TEHRAN Customs administrations of Iran and Korea here on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and announced their readiness for promoting of economic relations as well as facilitating the transit of Korean goods to the Central Asia and the Caucasus.

According to the MOU, the two sides agreed to further expand their cooperation through exchange of information, determining the goods tariff numbers, helping for the calculation of customs rates as well as easing the regulations related to the transit of goods.

Commissioner of the Korean Customs Service, Yoon Jin-sik, attributed great importance to the MOU and said it would ease the transit of his country-made goods to the Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Head of Iran's Customs Administration (ICA), for his part, referred to fighting customs violations and drug smuggling, easing the transit of goods as well as holding training courses for the two countries' experts as the main subjects dealt with in the MOU.

"According to the MOU, some 30 Iranian experts are to be trained in Korea in the field of E-commerce and its application in customs affairs," he said, adding that a group of Korean customs officials would also come to Iran to become familiar with the country's different experiences.

Mahdi Karbasian noted that last year (started March 20, 2000), some 42,000 tons of Korean goods, worth $456 million, were transited through Iran to the Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Yoon Jin-sik arrived in Tehran on Monday for a three-day official visit.