TEHRAN- Iran has exported non-oil commodities valued at $7.3 billion to Iraq in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), the former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Mohammad Rezvanifar said that Iraq was the second top export destination of the Iranian non-oil goods in the mentioned seven-month period.

Iraq is a strategic neighbor of Iran and Iran-Iraq annual trade stands at about $10 billion, he noted.

In late May, the head of the Department of Spatial Planning and Regional Planning of the Iranian Plan and Budget Organization said that Iran exports some 2,200 products, valued at $12 billion, to neighboring Iraq annually.

Speaking in a meeting entitled “Reviewing opportunities and challenges of attracting Iraqi investors and strengthening trade relations between the two countries in line with demarcating Iran in the regional value chain”, Jafar Hosseini said that Iraq, benefiting from $85 billion foreign exchange reserves, 130 tons of gold reserves, and 147 billion barrels of proven reserves of crude oil, is among the richest countries in West Asia.

He went on to say that Iran’s exports to Iraq have increased 15-fold over the past 20 years, rising from about $600 million in 2003 to more than $10 billion last year (ended March 19, 2024).

Currently, Iran exports over 2,200 various types of goods and products to Iraq, he said, adding that more than half of the active Iranian traders are present in the Iraqi market, IRNA reported

Developing the trade infrastructures to facilitate trade between the two countries, encouraging traders to invest in Iraq, promoting trade through dispatching and admitting trade delegations and participating in exhibitions of the two countries, etc. are suggested to strengthen the trade and economic relations between Iran and Iraq, he underlined.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.

Iran shares land or water borders with 15 countries namely UAE, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia.

As the former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has announced, the value of Iran’s non-oil trade with its neighboring countries has increased 23 percent in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Mohammad Rezvanifar has put Iran’s non-oil trade with its neighbors at 64.5 million tons worth $41.1 billion in the seven-month period.

He said trade with the neighbors also increased by 16 percent in terms of weight.

According to Rezvanifar, Iran exported 51.1 million tons of non-oil goods worth $20.2 billion to the neighboring countries in the seven-month period of this year, while importing 13.4 million tons of goods valued at $20.9 billion.

Regarding Iran's main export destinations among the neighboring countries, he said: “Iraq, the UAE, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan were the five main export destinations of Iran among the neighboring countries.”

“United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Russia, Oman, and Pakistan were the five major sources of imports among the neighboring countries in the seven months of this year,” the official added.

MA