LONDON -- A number of Iranian private sector tradesmen who are in London to attend an Iran-UK trade conference, talked to IRNA, elaborating on the two countries' private sector ties.

The managing directors of 34 Iranian private sector companies arrived in London as an economic delegation to start business talks with their British partners, among whom we talked with Jalal Sakhavati, the managing director of a leather producing firm.

Sakhavati believes the biggest obstacle in doing business with British firms in his field is that the Iranian products are not promptly advertised there, and are relatively unknown.

Sakahvati added: "Competing in the British markets is a really tough and breath-taking job," arguing that the British importers often require to inspect a large quantity of the marketed good in the producer's warehouse prior to purchasing the first party, so that their marketing would bear fruit in the long run.

"Entering the UK market needs relying on a huge capital therefore," he said, which is beyond the capabilities of medium to small sized Iranian private sector firms.

Civil engineer Hassan Hariri, who says his firm has long experience in road construction, too, believes the British trade partners are still not motivated enough for buying various Iranian goods or technical services.

He evaluated the routine talks between the Iranian and British private sector tradesmen and industrialists as fruitful, and yet asked for more efforts made by both countries' commerce bureaus to make such meetings practically more beneficial.

Hariri added: "Otherwise, the trade balance will remain strongly in favor of the British side."

The managing director of another private firm told IRNA that the British embassy in Tehran, unlike many other European countries, asks for presentation of an invitation from a British firm, which is against business norms.

The manager of an Iranian company that has a branch in London criticized the Iranian concerned officials for failing to present the required rules and regulations for exporting goods to Iranian merchants.

Abbas Khalaj, whose company is involved in food stuff and mineral water field said: "Despite my company's large investment and strong will to export to England, due to existing obstacles in both sides we have still not succeeded in doing so.'

He believes the Iranian business administration both in the industrial and in the commercial field is currently focussed on providing facilities for importers, while the rules and regulations for the exporters are countless.

A number of Iranian merchants and industrialists, as well as officials form Iran's commerce bureau are currently in England on an invitation from Britain's foreign trade organization.

The above mentioned organization is in charge of providing facilities for British firms to make investments abroad.