TEHRAN- Iran exported the second non-oil cargo to Oman via Sirik Port in southern Hormozgan province, Governor of Sirik County announced on Monday.

This is the second time in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20) that non-oil cargo is exported from Iran to Oman via Sirik Port.

Ahmad Jamaleddini put the weight of the second cargo at 22 tons, including fresh fruits and vegetables, dried nuts and mineral water, which were dispatched to the Omani port of Khasab, Mehr news agency reported.

The first cargo with a capacity of 120 tons, including mineral water and nuts, was dispatched to Oman on June 2, the official added.

In late April, Hamid Zadboum, the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), referred to the increase in trade volume between Iran and Oman and said, “Last month the two countries launched a container shipping line to transit cargoes between the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas and Port Sultan Qaboos in Oman.”

“The line is used to transit container cargoes, mainly fruits, and vegetables, between the two countries,” the official said.

Iran and Oman had signed a maritime cooperation agreement in December 2019 for boosting maritime transportation between the two countries.

Based on the agreement, Iranian traders and businessmen would be able to interact constructively with their Omani counterparts, and regular shipping lines were to be established between the two countries, while the two sides also pledged to provide facilities for using each other’s ports.

Even before the container line, the two neighbors had already launched four direct shipping lines between their ports.

The first shipping route between the two countries was put into operation in March 2015 between Iran’s Bandar Abbas and Oman’s Sohar.

Later in December 2016, the two neighbors inaugurated direct shipping routes from two Omani ports to the Iranian port of Shahid Bahonar.

In December 2017, they launched another shipping line to connect Iran’s port city of Khorramshahr to the Omani port of Sohar.

On July 22, Omani Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Masoud al-Sunaidi said that ties between Iran and Oman had been on the rise even during the coronavirus pandemic, which showed efforts on the two sides to strengthen relations.

“When the relations between countries have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and have been reduced, Oman’s relations with Iran have not been reduced and have even been expanded, which shows the two countries’ efforts to boost ties,” he said during a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Muscat Mohammad Reza Nouri Shahroudi.

The Iranian diplomat praised the efforts to increase cooperation and relations.

Oman dispatched a batch of sanitary and medical items to Iran in May to help the country in the fight against the coronavirus.

The consignment, weighing some 40 tons, was comprised of medical equipment and medicine for preventing and curing COVID-19, ISNA reported.

MA/MA