TEHRAN- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that the expansion of trade with the neighboring countries is a priority of the current government.

Making the remarks in a meeting with a number of successful Iranian exporters on the occasion of the National Exports Day on Thursday, the president said that  the development of trade with the neighbors and countries of the region is a priority of the foreign policy of the 13th government, and an appropriate mechanism has been designed and implemented in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pursue and implement this policy.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.

Iran shares land or water borders with 15 countries namely UAE, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran currently exports non-oil commodities to 40 European countries, 21 Asian countries, 28 African countries, and 12 American countries, while importing from 41 European countries, 31 Asian countries, 12 American countries, and 11 countries in Africa.

The IRICA spokesman has recently announced that the value of Iran’s non-oil trade with its 15 neighbors reached $22.588 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22) to register a 52 percent rise year on year.

The Islamic Republic traded over 47.222 million tons of commodities with the neighboring countries in the mentioned year, IRIB quoted Ruhollah Latifi as saying.

According to the official, the volume of the traded goods in the mentioned period also increased by 37 percent compared to the figure for the previous year’s same six months.

MA/MA