TEHRAN - The director general of the East Asia-Pacific Office of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said the launch of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Iran and Indonesia will spur exports and export activities between the two countries.

Indonesia imports $270 billion of products annually and Iran has a share of less than $1 billion in this market, Kaveh Daliri said, adding that efforts should be made to create a market for Iranian products using the PTA between Tehran and Jakarta.

He regretted that the PTA between Iran and Indonesia had remained inactive for about eight years and said the process of reviving it lasted about one year.

Iran has the experience of exporting the SINA surgeon robot to Indonesia and this shows that the domestic producers have a high capacity to adapt themselves to the world’s latest standards, Daliri added.

Back on May 17, the Iranian Parliament ratified a preferential trade agreement with Indonesia.

Daliri said Indonesia is a lucrative market for Iranian products, Mehr News Agency reported.

Increasing the trade exchanges and cooperation between the two countries is the main objective behind signing the agreement, he said, adding that countries facilitate the process of entering each other's markets by considering tariff discounts.

The two countries intend to set up a joint committee for the operationalization of the preferential trade agreement which is tasked with monitoring and updating the lists and discounts that Iran and Indonesia consider for each other.

Indonesia has the highest Muslim population in the world, so this Southeast Asian country is a good and profitable market for Iranian products, Daliri underlined

Once the preferential trade agreement is signed, the volume of the trade exchanges between the two countries will considerably increase, the director general emphasized.

Raw materials for edibles, oil-based materials, medical equipment with high added value, and electronic parts are among the export products that the two sides have considered discounts, the official added.

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