TEHRAN- Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) held the first meeting of its Commodity-Country Desk on trade with Syria, Farzad Piltan, the director general of TPO’s Office of Arabian and African Countries, announced on Monday.

The official said that the meeting was participated by the representatives from related governmental and private organizations aiming at investigating the hurdles in the way of exporting constructional materials, plastic products, and minerals to Syria and finding the ways to boost exports to the Syrian market, ILNA reported.

The participants explored the latest status of trade between Iran and Syria, mentioned the extant problems and it was decided that the related organizations take necessary follow-up measures to remove the discussed barriers.

Iran and Syria have been taking major steps for expansion of their mutual trade ties. The two sides have exchanged numerous trade delegations in the past few months and Iranian private companies are investing in various fields of Syrian economy like providing construction materials especially cement and working on several reconstruction projects.

Back in November 2019, Syrian ambassador to Tehran expressed his country’s readiness for providing facilities to Iranian companies which contribute to Syria’s reconstruction.

“The country is fully prepared to provide facilities for Iranian state-run and private companies to participate in reconstruction of Syria and also in other joint venture projects,” Adnan Hassan Mahmoud said in a seminar on Iran-Syria’s business opportunities in Tehran hosted by Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO).

Currently, the condition is ripe for the presence of Iranian state-run and private companies to carry out joint venture projects all across Syria, Mahmoud said.

Mentioning the long-term strategic cooperation agreement which was signed between the two countries in 2018, the official said there are many working and investments opportunities for Iranians in Syria, including building housing units, infrastructure, rebuilding the Syrian factories as well as providing raw materials to them.

The governments of the two countries are now working on resolving banking issues, and a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the central banks of the two sides which entails opening of bank branches in the two countries and the establishment of a joint bank, he added.

Establishing sea and road transportation companies to exchange goods and meet the needs of both sides are also on the agenda for both countries, the envoy said.

Addressing the same seminar, Chairman of Iran-Syria Joint Economic Committee Keyvan Kashefi delivered his speech in which he noted that considering the two sides’ determination, reaching $500 million - $1 billion of trade turnover within the next two years is completely plausible.

“Over the past year, more than 10 economic delegations have been exchanged between Iran and Syria, however lacking enough information and knowledge about the other side’s market is one of the biggest problems for Iranian economic activists,” he said.

MA/MA