TEHRAN - Iran’s cooperative sector exported commodities worth over $185.33 million during the first three months of the current Iranian year 1402 (March 21- June 21), registering a 61.03 percent increase year on year.

As IRNA reported, the first five export destinations for the products of Iranian cooperative companies in the mentioned three months were Iraq, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Oman.

Food products, metals, agricultural products, and tourism accounted for the biggest share of the exports made by the cooperative sector in the said period.

Cooperatives have also been very successful in exporting food stuff like rice and teas, as well as plastic products and household appliances.

Among the provinces of the country, the highest export of cooperatives was related to the provinces of Khorasan Razavi, East Azarbaijan, Fars, Bushehr, and Tehran respectively.

As reported, the country’s cooperative sector accounted for 1.49 percent of the country’s total exports in spring 1402.

According to Head of the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives Bahman Abdollahi, over 100,000 cooperatives are currently active in the country.

These cooperatives are active in different economic areas including industry and mining, agriculture, services, health and treatment, and housing.

The Iranian government has been following new strategies to remove the obstacles in the way of the country’s cooperatives.

“If we believe in the cooperative economy, we must remove the obstacles in the way of this sector; the role of the parliament is important in this regard and I hope this part will be taken into consideration in the amendment of the cooperative laws and in the seventh National Development Plan,” Abdollahi said earlier this month.

The official made the remarks in Iran’s first Cooperative Economy Congress, which was held in Tehran with the presence of President Ebrahim Raisi and Labor and Social Welfare Minister Solat Mortazavi.

EF/MA