TEHRAN- The chairman of the executive board of the coordination council of the country's technical-engineering entities, referred to the government's plan to increase the export of technical and engineering goods and services to neighboring countries, and said that export of technical-engineering services is the basis for the growth and development of the country and increase the employment in the industrial and construction activities.

In an interview conducted by IRNA, Ali Azad referred to the export of more than $4 billion of technical and engineering services in Iranian calendar year 1386 (March 2007-March 2008) and said: "Perhaps if this important issue had continued with the same correct order, today we would have reached an annual record of more than $20 billion in this field.”

Recalling that so far most of these services have been exported to neighboring countries and the region, he mentioned Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as another capacity that could lead to boosting the export of technical-engineering services to other countries.

Head of Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) has recently said that many of the countries in the region are seeking the Islamic Republic’s engineering and technical services and the country can provide them with such services.

“The 13th government’s major policy is to expand presence in target markets, and many countries in the region are looking for our engineering and industrial capabilities,” Masoud Mir-Kazemi said last week.

Speaking in a meeting with some of the country’s major contractor companies, Mir-Kazemi noted that such companies should become more productive, value-creating companies.

"Maintaining international economic markets is more important than entering those markets, and to achieve this important, the government should pay special attention to organizing the private sector activities in target markets,” he said.

“We know the value of the work of the country's technical, engineering, and professional organizations. The talent and potential of these companies should not be taken for granted,” the official added.

Earlier this year, Head of the Association of Iranian Exporters of Technical and Engineering Services Bahman Salehi told IRNA that value of the Iranian exports of technical and engineering services in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20) stood at only $500 million despite the great capacities in this area.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, as well as developing African countries are the main target markets for the export of technical and engineering services, Salehi said.

“Iran’s neighbor Turkey, despite lower capacities in technical and engineering services, has snatched the lead from the Iranians and recorded an annual export of $35 billion,” he regretted.

MA/MA