TEHRAN- Iran has exported products worth $233 million to Armenia during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20), an official with Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced.

Behrouz Hasan Olfat, the director-general of TPO’s office of trade with Europe and America, said that the eight-month export shows a 27-percent fall year on year, adding, “But we hope to make up for this in the last quarter of the year.”

The official put Iran’s worth of the import from Armenia at $11 million during the first eight months of the present year.

He also referred to the trade data released by Armenia and said Iran-Armenia trade during January-October 2020 stood at nearly $330 million, of which $254 million has been the share of Iran’s export and $74 million was the share of Armenia’s export.

The ten-month trade between the two neighbors shows a 0.6-percent rise year on year, he added.

Iran’s preferential trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has had a significant impact on the country’s trade relations with Armenia, according to the head of Iran-Armenia Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“The two sides are applying tariff discounts offered based on the agreement and there has been no problem in this regard”, Hervik Yarijanian said in January.

According to the official, the volume of trade between the two countries has witnessed an outstanding rise since the agreement became effective last October.

Iran mainly imports red meat from Armenia, while Armenia imports polymer raw materials, machinery, industrial gases, manufactured artifacts, leather, and leather goods from Iran, he said.

He further noted that Iran has a much greater export capability compared to Armenia, adding that traders have not yet gotten used to the idea of the preferential trade agreement and hopefully with the expansion of this deal, more Iranian traders will be attracted to the Armenian market.

Iran and Armenia have been emphasizing the need for preserving and expanding trade relations between the two countries since the preferential trade deal between Iran and EAEU was implemented.

While the U.S. renewed sanctions on Iran are aimed at isolating the Islamic Republic both politically and economically, Iran’s relations, especially in the economic sectors, with its neighbors are seemed not to be affected by the sanctions.

The northwestern neighbor Armenia is one of the countries preserving and expanding its economic relations with Iran regardless of the sanction condition.

MA/MA