TEHRAN- Scientific and Economic Cooperation Meeting Between Iran and West African Countries (IRAN WAC) kicked off in Tehran on Monday and will wrap up on Wednesday.

Addressing the first day of the gathering, Mohsen Rezaei, the Iranian vice president for economic affairs, mentioned the importance of expanding trade between Iran and the mentioned countries, and said, “We can establish large multinational commercial companies in cooperation with each other and increase our share of international trade; What Europeans and Americans do and are proud of.”

“My suggestion is to establish a joint bank of Iran and Africa; A bank that can have bilateral accounts; It means that capital should be allocated by the countries in the opposite country so that the traders of the other parties can do business with the common currencies of the countries without depending on dollars and euros. The joint bank of Iran and Africa can be a good starting point for the development of cooperation”, the official further explained.

Also, the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said, “The African continent has a lot of potential in the field of trade and economy for our country, which has been neglected in the past years.”

Making the remarks on the sidelines of the mentioned event, Alireza Peyman-Pak said, “In the 13th government, special attention was paid to the African region, so that Iran's exports to African countries experienced a growth of 10-15 percent and exceeded 1 billion dollars and reached 2.10 billion dollars.”

Referring to the potential of West African countries, the official said: “Most of our trade has been with East and North Africa, and trade with West African countries, which are an important place of mineral resources and high potential, has been neglected.”

“One of the obstacles in trade with West African countries was the lack of recognition and communication; so steps are taken to develop trade in today's international economic conference, which is held with the presence of 50 officials and entrepreneurs from 10 West African countries”, the TPO head further highlighted.

Iran’s export to Africa rises 6% in 11 months on year

The value of Iran’s non-oil export to Africa rose six percent in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2022-February 19, 2023), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the vice president of Iran and Africa Merchants Club Ruhollah Latifi said.

Latifi noted that Iranian traders exported over 2.379 million tons of commodities worth $1,155,532,000 to African countries in the mentioned 11-month period, IRNA reported.

According to the official, among Iran’s 55 African trade partners, the Islamic Republic exported commodities to 45 countries.

Latifi put the total Iran-Africa trade in the said 11 months at 2.465 million tons valued at $1.239 billion, of which the share of Iran’s import was 85,851 tons valued at $83.5 million. The value of imports from Africa increased by 61 percent.

The total trade between Iran and Africa also increased by eight percent in terms of value in the said period, the official said.

The official named South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Sudan, and Nigeria as the main export destinations and Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Seychelles as the major sources of imports for Iran among the African countries in the first 11 months of the present year.

Latifi earlier said that trade between Iran and Africa reached $1.250 billion last year with a 100 percent growth, and considering the current trend of trade with the African continent the figure is expected to reach $1.7 billion by the end of the current year (March 20, 2023).

Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization has also said the country is taking the necessary steps to increase annual trade exchanges with African countries to $5 billion by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (begins in March 2025).

Peyman-Pak said the trade with the mentioned countries is expected to reach $2.5 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2023).

Referring to the preparation of the country's trade development roadmap at the beginning of the work of the 13th administration, the official said: "In this roadmap, major factors including exports and the share of different sectors are specified, and in the case of Africa, the priorities and targets for trade with different countries and the requirements for reaching these targets are determined."

EF/MA

Photo: Iranian Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezaei delivers speech in IRAN WAC in Tehran on Monday