TEHRAN- As stated by the chairman of Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce, the country’s foreign trade will grow when the government and the private sector complement each other.

Hossein Pir-Moazen said that the government should play its role as a platform builder in the business process properly so that the private sector is able to have a powerful presence in the target markets, adding that the government and private sector should support each other properly so that we can see the growth of the country's trade exchanges.

“Strengthening the level of trade relations with other countries, especially neighbors, should be prioritized in economic policies in order to increase the country's income generation by increasing the volume of trade. This issue is very important in the conditions of sanctions. However, we see that the government is adopting strict policies, hindering the business condition”, he complained.

If the decision-makers of the country have a plan to improve the economic situation of the country today, they should take seriously the revival and strengthening of their relations with other countries, including the neighboring countries, and besides that, they should prioritize the conclusion of preferential trade and free trade agreements with them, Pir-Moazen further commented.

Fortunately, there are high capacities in Iran that can be used in way of trade. Iran has a high capacity to produce a variety of products with high added value, and at the same time, it plays an important role in the region in terms of transit routes. Therefore, it is necessary to plan for attracting investments, increasing the production capacity along with improving the level of productivity. On the other hand, it is very important to focus on improving transit routes and making them prosperous, he added.

According to Pir-Moazen, the fact that in the seventh [national] development plan, special attention has been paid to Iran's commercial capacities through the sea is promising and can be very effective; But on the other hand, the development programs during the past years were not implemented properly and could not reach their goals completely.

“In this regard, everything that is necessary to strengthen trade and raise the level of foreign exchange must be provided. The existing barriers to production should be removed and conditions should be created for investment attraction, and after that, we will witness the strengthening of Iran's trade relations with other countries. The country's transportation system needs reconstruction and modernization; Focusing on this very important industry is also one of the requirements of Iran's business development”, he explained.

After preparing internal conditions to strengthen trade, planning to create stable relations with other countries should be considered. For this purpose, it is necessary to use all available facilities and capabilities. Undoubtedly, using the power of the private sector and businessmen, who have been able to build a market and export Iranian products in the past years, will be effective, he added.

According to Pir-Moazen, the joint chambers of commerce are one of the most important capacities that should not be ignored. These chambers include a set of businessmen and entrepreneurs who are in constant contact with the target country and can be consulted by the government based on their knowledge of the markets, and the problems they have in these countries can be resolved with the help of diplomatic negotiations between the statesmen.

“The government should play its role as a platform builder in the business process properly so that the private sector is able to have a powerful presence in the target markets. The government and the private sector complement each other in this way and should support each other properly so that we can see the growth of the country's trade exchanges”, he reiterated.