TEHRAN – Head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) Mahmoud Najafi-Arab in a meeting with Hassan Zarnegar, caretaker of the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh, has said the private sector is completely ready to expand all-out ties with Saudi Arabia.

In this meeting, which was also attended by TCCIMA Secretary General Bahman Eshghi, the officials announced that the Tehran Chamber is ready to hold a conference on business opportunities between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the TCCIMA portal reported.

Stating that the development of economic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia will lead to the improvement and development of political relations between the two countries, Najafi-Arab expressed the TCCIMA’s readiness to cooperate with the Iranian embassy in Jeddah to identify the country's market and business opportunities for Iranian companies and economic operators and also the introduction of Iran's market capacities to Saudi businessmen.

In early July, 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.

On September 20, 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.

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.

EF/MA