TEHRAN - Iranian Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)’s Foreign Trade Coordination Council held an extraordinary meeting to explore ways of facilitating trade exchanges with the neighboring counties amid the coronavirus outbreak, the TPO portal announced.

“To discuss the issues pertaining to the trade with neighboring countries in the current situation [corona outbreak], an extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Trade Coordination Council was held on Monday,” TPO Head Hamid Zadboum said.

“The meeting was chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Gholamreza Ansari,” he added.

In the meeting, which was attended by representatives of the country’s ministries, government agencies, and the private sector, the latest measures taken to address the concerns of our foreign trade partners were discussed, according to Zadboum.

As reported, at the end of this extraordinary meeting, some decisions were made to facilitate cross-border traffic and trade with neighbors following the Coronavirus outbreak.

Iran has been communicating with its neighbors for taking actions regarding the coronavirus containment.

Earlier on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Iraqi counterpart Mohammad al-Hakim emphasized taking joint measures to counter coronavirus outbreak in a phone conversation.

Iranian Ambassador to Bishkek Saeed Kharrazi met on Tuesday with Kyrgyz Deputy Health Minister Tolo Isakov to exchange views on ways to cooperate in the battle against the coronavirus outbreak.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran has risen to 77 with 2,336 confirmed cases.

The virus first emerged in China in December last year and is now spreading in the U.S., Europe and across the Middle East, sparking fears of a global pandemic.

EF/MA