TEHRAN – Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) is going to dispatch a trade delegation to Belarus's capital city of Minsk during July 24-30, the TCCIMA portal reported.

Comprised of the representatives of the country’s private sector, the delegation is aimed to explore avenues of cooperation between the two countries on the sidelines of the 15th Iran-Belarus Joint Economic Committee meeting.

The Iranian delegation is planned to discuss mutual cooperation with the Belarusian side in various areas including agriculture, food industry and machinery, petrochemical and chemical, construction materials and technical and engineering services, medicine and medical equipment, transportation and logistics, mineral products, and related equipment and machinery.

Back in February, TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Tehran Dmitry Koltsov met to discuss holding the two countries’ Joint Economic Committee meeting in the summer.

During the meeting, the officials stressed the need for promoting bilateral economic ties between the private sectors of the two nations and explored the conditions for the development of trade relations.

Speaking at the meeting, Khansari mentioned his visit to Belarus in 2019, saying: “During that visit, we had very positive meetings with government officials and the private sector of Belarus, and it was decided that more trade delegations would be exchanged between the two countries; unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic postponed all meetings.”

Referring to the problems created by the sanctions in the relations between the two countries, the TCCIMA head added: "Now seems to be an important time to take steps to revive the past relations and develop them.”

Koltsov for his part praised the performance of the TCCIMA in cooperation with the Belarusian embassy and underlined the high potential of the private sectors of the two countries for cooperation in various areas.

Belarus, as a member of the Eurasian Union, could play an important role in improving Iran's trade relations with the bloc, he said.

Iran and Belarus had targeted to boost their trade turnover to €1 billion in the near future.

The two countries have signed and exchanged numerous agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in various areas including banking cooperation, educational and cultural cooperation, aviation, parliamentary, visa, customs, and standards.

EF/MA