TEHRAN— Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi reiterates the need to seize the trade opportunity with regional countries, referring to his recent meetings with counterparts on the sidelines of the summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states in Turkmenistan.

Speaking at the cabinet session on Wednesday, he said, “The agriculture ministry is one of the sections that can become more active in the field of exchanges of such products due to the context and capacity of production of agricultural products in neighboring countries.”

Raisi also called for using the opportunity to use credits as well as domestic and foreign funds for investment in the country, develop industry and implement joint projects with other countries, including the implementation of the Rasht-Astara railway and its continuation through the Republic of Azerbaijan.

It is necessary that foreign ministry and other related institutions follow up the implementation of agreements, the president emphasized.

Referring to the signing of the 7-billion-dollar memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the development of the Azadegan Oil Field, Raisi called it one of the important examples of relying on domestic capacity. 

He also called for directing the liquidity to the production sector.

“If liquidity is used for the growth of production, its growth will not be a cause for concern. It is wandering liquidity that causes inflation and economic disturbances in the country,” he underlined.

The president concluded by saying that with the signing of this memorandum, which is an important step in the government's efforts to increase investment in the production sector, large economic companies have become active as the driving force of the country's economy, and people will witness the results of these actions in the near future.