TEHRAN – Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) plans to hold a seminar on December 18, to introduce potentials and capacities of the Indian market for Iranian traders and businessmen, the TPO portal announced.

The seminar, which is set to be held in collaboration with the Iran-India Joint Chamber of Commerce, aims to provide an opportunity for the Iranian businessmen and traders to get familiar with India’s potential areas for cooperation, and collect information about the capacities and opportunities in the mentioned market.

In an exclusive interview with the Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) published in August, Indian Ambassador to Iran Gaddam Dharmendra said that his country’s ties with Tehran would not be influenced by other countries.

“Bilateral discussions between Indian prime minister and Iran’s president have led to a diversification of trade exchanges”, the ambassador noted.

With regard to how U.S. sanctions can affect the volume of trade between Iran and India, he said, “We do not adjust our relations with Iran based on the behavior of other countries. Iran is our neighbor and we have extensive relations with Iran. We saw a rise of more than 25% in bilateral trade as compared to last year.”

The ambassador also said that sanctions are making officials on both sides to think of diversifying their trade ties beyond the energy sector. “Tehran-New Delhi relations were mostly in the field of energy, and Iran exported oil to India and India exported items to Iran that were not in balance before.”

“But now regarding new issues, we have to see what we can do about Iranian oil. India-Iran bilateral trade stands at more than $ 17 billion (2018-19). This is an increase of 25%.  At present, commodities like Basmati rice, Soybean meal, black tea, and cane sugar are seeing an upward trend.”

According to Dharmendra, the U.S. sanctions against Iran are a new challenge which nevertheless offers an opportunity for both countries.

Members of Iran-India chambers of commerce, manufacturers and traders must explore ways to further boost trade between the two countries, he suggested.

“Both Iran and India are large, developing economies with solid fundamentals. Both countries are benefiting from their respective demographic advantages. I see our economic partnership as being on a positive trajectory,” the Indian ambassador stated.

EF/MA