TEHRAN- Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Valiollah Afkhamirad, in a meeting with Ecuadorian ambassador to Iran Umberto Vinuesa Rodriguez in Tehran called for the two countries’ private sectors to take necessary actions on the way to expand bilateral commercial ties.

Criticizing the low volume of mutual trade between the two countries at the present time, Afkhamirad highlighted the pivotal role of both sides’ private sectors in improving the trade volume. 
He also thanked the Ecuadorian Parliament for ratification of trade agreement with Iran and expressed hope that the contract would remarkably increase bilateral trade in future.
The Ecuadorian ambassador, for his part, underscored the vitality of improvement of mutual trade and said that his country backs endorsement of preferential trade agreements (PTA) with the Islamic Republic, as well as development of banking ties and opening of credit lines.
Earlier in February, Iran and Ecuador discussed ways for facilitating mutual trade, launching joint ventures and reopening of Ecuador’s commercial office in Tehran during a meeting between Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Trade Diego Aulestia Valencia and Mohsen Jalalpour, the chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), in Tehran. 
During the meeting, Valencia called for revision of customs duty on its country’s goods, exported to Iran, saying that Ecuador looks for its commercial office in Tehran to resume activity. 
A major part of Iran’s exports to Ecuador, he said, contains industrial goods and machinery which their trade would be facilitated by expansion of relations between the two countries’ chambers of commerce. 
He said Ecuador seeks Iranian investment for its development projects in different fields such as exploration, extraction and refining of minerals as well as construction sector. 
Furthermore, Valencia called for opening a credit line between the two countries’ banks.
 
HJ/MA