TEHRAN – Iran’s Acting Industry, Mining and Trade Minister said the country’s production was not halted by the coronavirus outbreak and despite the difficult situation the sector continued operating in compliance with health protocols, IRNA reported.

“Big industrial units in Iran managed to protect their work environment and manpower from the virus in compliance with all health protocols, and in addition to timely supply of needs in the domestic market, did not stop exporting to target markets,” Hossein Modares Khiabani said on Friday.

At the beginning of the outbreak, Iran needed to import N95 masks to meet the needs of medical staff, but now, using great domestic potentials and careful planning on domestic production, not only all the country's needs have been met, exports are also underway, Khiabani said on the sidelines of a visit to a dairy production unit in Tehran.

In this visit, the acting minister stressed the need for promoting the presence of Iranian dairy products in the export markets of Eurasia, saying: “Exports of dairy products to Eurasia should be improved, especially since Iran has a preferential trade agreement with the union, which will pave the way for more Iranian exporters to compete in their markets.”

“Export markets in the region have provided a good opportunity for Iranian exporters; meanwhile, 60 percent of the country's exports go to the target markets of neighboring countries,” he added.

Back in April, the Industry Ministry had outlined the main programs for supporting the domestic production in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20).

Developing technology and promoting knowledge-based industries, development of domestic production in line with the Leader’s stresses on surge in production, managing imports and development of non-oil exports, improving the business environment, development of financing and investment and finally development of logistics were reported to be the seven major axes of the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry’s works in the current year, which is named “Surge in Production” by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Former Industry Minister Reza Rahmani had announce later that month that his ministry was taking all the measures under the protocols adopted by the Health Ministry and is acting in coordination with the national headquarters for the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

The minister also said that the country’s production was not stopped by the coronavirus outbreak.

EF/MA