Speaking to Tehran Times in a press conference on Saturday, Mohammadreza Modoudi noted that the Europeans should be more eager than Iran for establishing the promised trade mechanism since otherwise the EU credibility will be seriously questioned.
The official further noted that despite US efforts for isolating Iran, the country has a good economic relationship with its neighbors and Iran’s foreign trade is flourishing strongly.
“The country’s non-oil trade balance for the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 - December 21, 2018) was over $700 million positive,” he said.
According to the official, the country’s non-oil exports for the mentioned timespan stood at $33.4 billion, registering a 5.5 percent rise compared to the same period last year.
He underlined petrochemical products and exports from the industry sector as well as agricultural products as the main drivers of the increase in the nonoil exports.
Surge in exports to neighboring countries
Elsewhere in his remarks, Modoudi pointed to the significant increase in the country’s non-oil exports to the neighboring countries, saying, “exports to the 13 neighboring countries has increased by 27 percent in the first nine months of the current year.”
“Except for Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, the increase in exports to the neighboring countries have been quite significant, with Iraq and Oman having the highest growth rates,” Modoudi said.
"Followed by Turkey and China, Iran is currently the biggest exporter to Iraq,” he added.
According to the official the neighboring countries account for over 57 percent of Iran’s total non-oil exports with Iraq, the UAE, Afghanistan, Turkey and Pakistan holding about 90-percent share of the total exports.
Mentioning the great potential of Iran’s neighboring markets, the TPO head said, “Iran’s neighbors have a $1 trillion import capacity annually, and considering the US sanctions we should focus more on our neighboring markets.”
Interview by Ebrahim Fallahi