TEHRAN - Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) has held a trade diplomacy training course in Tehran in collaboration with the International Trade Centre and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the TPO portal reported on Saturday.

The opening ceremony of the course was attended by senior officials including French Ambassador to Iran Philippe Thiebaud, Senior Advisor to Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Jalaledin Alavi Sabzevari, and TPO’s Deputy Head for Export Markets Development Ahmad-Reza Alaei Tabatabaei.

Speaking at the ceremony, Thiebaud referred to the European Union's desire to develop trade relations with Iran based on mutual interests, and said: "Currently, EU and Iran trade has reached a significant level.”

"Last year, about 20 percent of Iran's imports came from the European Union, and the volume of trade between the two sides increased to about five billion euros," he said.

If other non-union countries are added to this list, trade between Iran with European countries reaches about 5.5 billion euros, he added.

Alaei Tabatabaei for his part considered the activities defined in the framework of this course important, and referring to the serious determination of the Trade Promotion Organization in this regard, called for the flexibility of this project to cover the needs of the private sector as much as possible.

EF/MA