TEHRAN – Head of Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) of Iran says the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL) accounts for 22 percent of the country’s cargo transportation, adding that TPO is ready to cooperate with IRISL to increase this share in order to develop non-oil exports.

Speaking in a meeting with the IRISL head on Saturday, Hamid Zadboum noted that the establishment of shipping lines to the target export destinations and especially to the Eurasian region is one of the important expectations of exporters.

The government, in its support package for the non-oil exports in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20), has provisioned some measures to reduce the costs of sea transportation for exporters, Zadboum said, asking the IRISL Head Mohammadreza Modares Khiabani, to outline his organization’s plans to realize the mentioned support package.

Zadboum underlined the cooperation between TPO and IRISL for establishing regular shipping lines in the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and East Africa, as very important and said TPO’s Commercial Services Development Office has been tasked to make necessary preparations for signing new agreements with IRISL in this regard.

Welcoming the idea of extensive cooperation with TPO, Modares Khiabani also announced the readiness of IRISL for accepting the brokerage of various goods, especially in the Eurasian region.

Modares Khiabani pointed to the IRISL representative offices in many countries and the presence of Iran's commercial attachés in most of the target countries as the best opportunity for developing the country’s foreign trade and called for more cooperation between the two organizations to this end.

The two sides also stressed the need for establishing a maritime transport working group with the aim of exploring the problems in the field of maritime transportation and to provide practical solutions in this regard.

EF/MA