TEHRAN – Iran and China discussed expansion of customs cooperation and trade facilitation in a meeting between Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Chang Hua and Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Mehdi Mirashrafi, IRIB reported.

In the meeting, the Chinese ambassador stressed his country’s willingness for expanding trade relations with Iran.

“Iran is one of China's largest trading partners. A large number of goods are annually traded between the two countries, so expanding these relations is one of the most important issues for China and we will do our best to improve our relations,” Chang Hua said.

The Iranian official, for his part, offered suggestions such as exchanging customs information, holding mutual staff training programs, reinforcing the Silk Road project, establishing a common trade gate, using the two countries' shared experiences, exchanging X-ray images and etc. in order to facilitate customs cooperation between the two sides.

He further suggested that the officials from both sides gather in a meeting every six months to discuss relevant issues and find ways to further improve the relations.

According to the customs reports, with 24.37 percent share of Iran’s total imports in H1 of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22) China is Iran’s top importer of non-oil goods.

Iran’s non-oil exports from March 21 to September 22 stand at 70,009 tons valued at $20,948, which shows a 10.55 percent decrease in terms of value and a 22.5 percent increase in terms of weight compared to the same six-month period last year.

Meanwhile, China was the top exporter to Iran in the same six-month period with 25 percent share of Iran’s total imports, valued at $5.304 million.

EF/MA