TEHRAN – Iran’s non-oil trade with its Arab trade partners reached $9.579 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21), the portal of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) reported.

According to Farzad Piltan, the director-general of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)'s Office of Arabian and African Countries, in the mentioned six months Iran exported $5.348 billion worth of commodities to its major Arab trade partners including Iraq, United Arab Emirate (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, while importing $4.231 billion worth of non-oil goods from the mentioned neighboring countries.

According to the official, Iran’s total exports to its 15 neighboring countries stood at $8.16 billion and the imports from the said countries reached $16.783 billion in the said six months.

Among this group of countries, in terms of exports, Iraq and the UAE were in the first and second place, and Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar were in the eighth to tenth places after Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, and Azerbaijan, while Bahrain and Saudi Arabia with three million dollars and zero imports from Iran were ranked 14th and 15th after Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, respectively.

As for the imports, the UAE and Oman (after Turkey and Russia) ranked first and fourth, respectively, and Iraq with $43 million (after Pakistan) stood at sixth place, while Kuwait with $3 million and Qatar with $2.4 million were ranked 11th and 12th, respectively after Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan.

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with $0.1 million and zero exports to Iran, were ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, after Afghanistan.

It is worth mentioning that Iran’s total exports in the mentioned six months reached 46.318 million tons valued at $13.566 billion, of which $12.799 billion, or about 94 percent were exported to the country’s major 20 trade partners all around the world.

According to Piltan, following a new approach and considering the international conditions and, of course, economic and trade variables, the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran has put the development of trade relations with neighboring countries, including the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, on its agenda.

Positive political relations with some of the mentioned countries, geographical proximity and proper port infrastructure and consequently low transportation costs, religious, cultural and linguistic commonalities and ease of communication between Iranian traders and the above countries, ease of travel and low marketing and attendance costs in exhibitions and other trade events, as well as the establishment of offices and agencies, etc., are some of the most important factors that contribute to the increasing trade relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the mentioned countries.

EF/MA