TEHRAN - The 126th Dialogue Council of the Government and the Private Sector was held in Tehran on Tuesday in which the country’s recent economic issues were discussed and attendees shared their views.

The meeting was attended by senior officials including Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Abdolnaser Hemati, Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Samad Hassanzadeh, and Agriculture Minister Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh at the place of ICCIMA, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Speaking at the meeting, Hemmati mentioned some regulations that ban the exports of some agricultural products and said the government is trying to remove redundant regulations that are hindering exports.

“We cannot constantly change the country's regulations. The exporters plan their activities based on certain schedules and the specifics of the target markets, and according to the president, hindering this process is not acceptable,” the minister said.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s foreign trade reached $99.7 billion during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21).

Mohammad Rezvanifar said that of the mentioned figure, $60.2 billion was the value of the country’s export, and $39.5 billion was the worth of the import.

He put the value of non-oil export at $32.5 billion, the oil export at $27 billion, and technical-engineering export at $700 million in the seven-month period.

Saying that the value of the country’s non-oil export rose 15 percent in the first seven months of this year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the official put the weight of non-oil export at 88.7 million tons in the mentioned seven-month, with 11.48 percent growth, year on year.

He further put the weight of the seven-month import at 21.7 million tons.

According to Rezvanifar, the average value of each ton of exported goods has increased by three percent to $367 and the average worth of each ton of imported products has risen six percent to $1,819 in the first seven months of this year, as compared to the same time span of the past year.

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Photo: Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati (C) delivers speech at an ICCIMA meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, November 5.