TEHRAN – Iran exported 2.209 million tons of non-oil products valued at $1,093,875,996 to the African countries during the period from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2022) up to December 31, the vice president of Iran and Africa Merchants Club Ruhollah Latifi said.

According to Latifi, Iran and Africa traded 2.29 million tons of commodities worth $1.169 million in the mentioned period, IRIB reported.

The official said 96.5 percent of the total weight of the traded goods was related to the Iranian exports to Africa, while 93.5 percent of the total value was also gained by Iranian exporters.

He named South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Sudan, and Nigeria as the main export destinations for Iranian products while Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Seychelles were the major sources of imports among the African countries in the period under review.

According to Latifi, following the 13th government’s policy of multilateralism and attention to new markets, especially in Asia and Africa, Iran's business relations with African countries have been on the path of growth.

The official noted that last year trade between Iran and Africa reached $1.250 billion with a 100 percent growth, and considering the current trend of trade with the African continent the figure is expected to reach $1.7 billion by the end of the current year (March 20).

Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Peyman-Pak has said the country is taking the necessary steps to increase annual trade exchanges with African countries to $5 billion by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (begins in March 2025).

Peyman-Pak said the trade with the mentioned countries is expected to reach $2.5 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

Referring to the preparation of the country's trade development roadmap at the beginning of the work of the 13th administration, the official said: "In this roadmap, major factors including exports and the share of different sectors are specified, and in the case of Africa, the priorities and targets for trade with different countries and the requirements for reaching these targets are determined."

Peyman-Pak put the share of African countries in Iran's export basket at $1.2 billion, saying: "Africa's annual imports amount to about $580 billion and our share of this figure is still small despite all the efforts. We have managed to export $1.2 billion to this market."

He further mentioned the capacities of the mentioned continent for the export of technical and engineering services and said: "The total exports of technical and engineering services to Africa is currently $300 billion; But our share last year, despite a slight increase reached only $200 million, which is still small.”

According to the TPO head, in order to increase the level of trade with Africa certain infrastructure including transportation and direct shipping lines, as well as proper legal, commercial, monetary, and banking relations must be provided, and TPO has been recently focusing on providing such requirements to facilitate trade with Africa.

“To solve the transportation problems, four countries have been selected in East, West, South, and North of Africa, to launch air and shipping lines,” he said.

EF/MA