TEHRAN - Director General of Industrial and Mining Products Office at Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) of Iran said the organization hosted a specialized desk for promotion of cable and wire industry, TPO portal reported.

According to Mir-Aboutaleb Badri, the meeting was aimed to assess the industry’s overall condition that is the production, exports, imports and other issues related to the wire and cable industry.

Problems regarding the supply of raw materials, high production costs compared to competitors, high customs fees, lack of export insurance coverage and export guarantee fund in some countries (Syria and Iraq), high shipping prices and lack of transfers by shipping companies under the U.S. sanctions, were some of the issues discussed at the meeting, the official said.

Increasing non-oil export to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government is pursuing in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21, 2019).

Back in August 2019, Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani said the industry ministry has it on the agenda to increase the value of non-oil exports to Iran’s 15 neighbors up to $50 billion.

In late January, the official announced that TPO is tasked to establish specialized export terminals in certain provinces to facilitate the exports of some commodities.
Iran shares border with fifteen countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Based on the data published by TPO, the value of trade with the neighboring countries stood at over $36.5 billion in the past Iranian calendar year.

EF/MA