TEHRAN- The director of Commercial Attachés Office of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced that license was issued to establish a trade center in Saudi Arabia, and the center started its activity in Jeddah.

Mohammad Rajab-Nejad also announced: “We currently have 46 active trade centers in other countries, and licenses have been issued for the establishment of trade centers in Kirgizstan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.”

During a meeting between Iran’s Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi and Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, in mid-May, the two sides discussed the ways to expand economic cooperation and remove the barriers in the way of trade between the two countries.

In the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the board of executive directors of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in Jeddah, the Saudi Arabian minister expressed satisfaction with the re-establishment of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and said: “We hope that quick steps will be taken in relations with Iran.”

“In this regard, it is necessary to remove the economic and trade barriers against the two countries”, he stressed.

The Iranian minister for his part welcomed the progress of economic relations between the two countries and stated that the development of relations is important not only for Iran and Saudi Arabia but also for all countries in the region.

Stating that it is the duty of governments to facilitate economic ties, Khandouzi said these bilateral relations are very important not only from an economic point of view but also in the political and security fields.

Explaining Iran's program in the field of economic relations with Saudi Arabia, Khandouzi said: “At the government level, Iran and Saudi Arabia have not finalized any basic agreement in the field of investment, customs, and trade. In this regard, it is necessary to draw up and sign MOUs between the parties.”

The Saudi Arabian side, while agreeing to cooperate in the three fields of customs, trade, and investment, expressed hope that with the assistance of his country’s ministries, cooperation in the mentioned fields will be followed up.

Also, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro published in late May, the Iranian foreign minister said the reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia is more than just “a tactical agreement,” and both nations have decided to advance their economic and commercial ties.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian also mentioned that the Saudi government has prioritized investment in Iran.

“I talked about economic issues during my recent meeting with my Saudi counterpart,” the top diplomat said, adding, “We both agreed to develop our economic and commercial relations in the months and years to come.”

He continued by saying that the Saudi government now prioritizes the completion of economic initiatives.

In early July, the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) held a seminar titled "Economic cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia; Private sector perspective".

With the strong presence of the TCCIMA members and representatives of the private sector, the seminar was held at the place of TCCIMA, where the speakers pointed to the capacities, challenges and future of Iran-Saudi Arabia relations and emphasized that the private sector can help advance political relations between the two countries and further cooperation in international forums by developing economic relations.

At the beginning of this seminar, Ferial Mostofi, the head of the Investment Services Center of TCCIMA, referred to the agreement between the political authorities of Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore relations, and said: “In its economic diplomacy, Saudi Arabia smartly focuses on connecting to global value chains, paying attention to domestic and foreign investment; and developing trade, and economic cooperation with Saudi Arabia can be viewed from these three perspectives.”

Saudi Arabia is also taking steps to strengthen international trade by simplifying customs procedures, low import tariffs, and introducing new instruments to promote exports to open new markets for the products and services of Saudi companies, she added.

In Iran, especially in the private sector, there are many capabilities and experiences in the field of downstream oil and gas industries, mining and mineral industries, health, construction, technical and engineering services, chemical industries, construction and light industries, food and agriculture industries, etc. Many of these capabilities have been the result of the private sector’s efforts. In this regard, the Chamber of Commerce can be a window of effective communication between the private sectors of the two countries and thus help to expand the relations between the two countries, Mostofi stated.

Addressing the same seminar, Bahman Eshqi, the secretary-general of TCCIMA, referred to the high capacities of Iran and Saudi Arabia as two large and influential countries in West Asia, and said that the private sectors should play a role instead of governments in the development of economic relations between the two countries.

MA