TEHRAN – In a meeting between the acting head of the international affairs department of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) and the head of the commercial office of Vietnam Embassy in Tehran, the two sides discussed cooperation for holding an Iran-Vietnam business forum in Tehran concurrent with the upcoming visit of Vietnam’s parliament speaker to Tehran.

As reported by the ICCIMA portal, in this meeting which was held to discuss the preparations for the upcoming visit of Vietnam’s parliament speaker to Tehran in August, the Vietnamese side asked Niloufar Asadi to make the necessary arrangements for the holding of the mentioned forum during the visit of his country’s parliament speaker to Tehran.

During the meeting, Asadi also suggested that the forum should be held at the place of ICCIMA as the representative of the Iranian private sector.

Also, during a meeting between ICCIMA Head Hossein Selahvarzi and Vietnam’s Ambassador to Tehran Luong Quoc Huy at the place of ICCIMA in mid-July, the Vietnamese envoy mentioned the upcoming visit of the speaker of the Vietnamese parliament to Tehran, noting that a delegation comprised of 70 officials and businesspersons is going to accompany the Vietnamese parliament speaker on his visit to Iran.

During that meeting, the two sides discussed ways of expanding trade ties between the private sectors of the two countries.

The two sides discussed various subjects during the meeting including trade capacities, obstacles to bilateral cooperation, and ways to increase the level of economic exchanges between Iran and Vietnam.

In this meeting, Selahvarzi emphasized the readiness of the private sectors of Iran and Vietnam for joint investments and using barter trade capacities for the development of economic cooperation.

The ICCIMA head underlined Vietnam’s significant economic growth in recent years and noted that the Iranian private sector is eager for the expansion of ties with their Vietnamese counterparts in all areas.

“We are interested in developing business relations with Vietnam, and the establishment of the Iran-Vietnam Joint Chamber of Commerce is an indication of our interest in strengthening business cooperation,” Selahvarzi said.

He also called for resolving the problems regarding the issuance of business visas for Iranian traders.

The Vietnamese ambassador for his part congratulated Selahvarzi on his election as the new head of the ICCIMA and welcomed his proposals and remarks.

The official noted that Iran is economically very important for the region, Asia, and the world in general, and this issue shows the right direction of Iran's diplomacy and foreign policy.

Luong Quoc Huy further pointed out the obstacles to trade with Iran, saying: “The sanctions and limited banking and financial relations are the major obstacle in the way of trade between the two countries. Of course, in recent years, Iran's foreign policy has shown that it is taking steps in the direction of lifting sanctions.”

EF/MA