TEHRAN- Brazilian companies are ready to enter the Iranian market once the Western-led sanctions are lifted against Iran, according to Romana Dovganyuk, the president of the Brazil-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce.

Dovganyuk made the remarks in an interview with the Tehran Times.

She said: “Brazilians are considering Iran as a new market, not only for selling their products, but for establishing their factories and making joint venture.”

Trade between Iran and Brazil stood at $254.631 million in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, with the balance tipped in favor of Brazil.
 
Iran exported $76.762 million of non-oil goods (mainly chemical fertilizers and plastic products) to Brazil and imported $331.393 million of non-oil goods (mainly corn, beef, sugar and oil) from the country in the past year.

Dovganyuk said: “For reduction of this gap, we do not need to wait for the sanctions to be removed. We need to start to work, to trust each other more and create more jobs for each other. We should build a bridge between Brazil and Iran to do the business.”

“To do business under the sanctions condition, we can barter the products. For example, Brazil is a large producer of agricultural products. Such products are produced in the lands and lands need fertilizers. On the other side, Iran is a large producer of petrochemical products such as fertilizers. In this way, Brazil can barter its agricultural products with Iran’s fertilizers,” she explained.

Referring to the April’s framework agreement between the P5+1 group of countries and Iran over its nuclear energy program, Dovganyuk said: “It was a good step to open the gate for more business between Iran and Brazil. We can start from buying Iran’s fertilizers and also Vaseline, which is an important product for Brazil. Also, we should import more pistachio, raisin and dried fruits from Iran.”

“About Iranian carpet, we should not focus just on the Bazaar to buy and sell. We should introduce this carpet to the Brazilian market, not just as a product to buy and sell, but as the Iranian tradition and history,” she added.

She went on to say that Brazil-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce, which was established in 2003, has been expanding trade ties between the two countries through measures such as holding meetings between Iranian and Brazilian companies and organizing trips of trade delegations between the two countries.

The chamber is currently working with some important Iranian organizations and companies such as National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), National Iranian Oil Refining & Distribution Company (NIORDC) and Islamic Republic of Iran shipping Lines (IRISL), she stated.

“In October 2014, we sent a letter to Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM), saying that we would like to have a partner in Iran. We have created great projects between the two countries in the fields of sport, art and trade and we are hopefully expecting that Iran and Brazil can unite their strength to work together in different areas of activities through establishment of Iran-Brazil Chamber of Commerce in Iran,” Dovganyuk noted.

She said establishing the chamber in Iran is still under the study by the Iranian side.