TEHRAN - Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) hosted a meeting with the head of the Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) on Saturday to discuss the issues faced by the country’s exporters.

The meeting was attended by TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari, the TPO Head Alireza Peyman Pak and a handful of the country’s exporters and businessmen, IRIB reported.

Speaking in this gathering, Khansari underlined the significance of non-oil exports in the country’s current economic condition, saying: “Export is the only way to save Iran's economy, and if we can solve the export problems, many of the country's problems will be resolved.”

“We are facing the most difficult economic conditions of the country after the Islamic Revolution, which we can overcome by paying attention to exports, and one of the major players in the field of exports is the Trade Promotion Organization, which we hope will continue its supportive role in this field,” Khansari said.

He mentioned some of the problems that the country’s exporters have been facing over the past few years, and noted that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)’s approach toward exports and exporters (mentioning the obligations created for exporters to return their foreign currency revenues to the country) created numerous challenges for them.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Peyman Pak for his part mentioned some of the Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry’s plans for supporting non-oil exports, saying: “The main plan of the Industry Ministry is to create an export toll management fund; and the generated revenues from this fund should be spent on improving the export infrastructure.”

“Currently, all issues and problems are clear, but operational solutions must also be considered and defined, in both micro and macro scales; Of course, solving macro problems is hard; we have to go back and even change some rules,” the official said.

He further mentioned some of the measure taken by the Industry Ministry for resolving the problems of the exporters and said: “work is underway on resolving issues related to bilateral tariffs and the creation of financial and banking channels, and consultation meetings have been held with the central bank in this regard.”

EF/MA

Photo: TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari (2nd R) and TPO Head Alireza Peyman Pak (C)