Mohsen Jalalpour pointed to religious and cultural common features of two nations beside good political ties as a basis on which to improve economic ties: “the volume of our economic exchange is not as good as political relations,” he added. He also emphasized upon government’s importance lent on privatization policies and the role of private sector in future of economy; “outstanding Lebanese traders around the world should consider raising ties with Iranian counterparts,” Jalalpour said.
Working in various fields such as agricultural products, transportation, energy and power plants construction, pharmaceutical and tourism should be considered for joint ventures between two countries, Mr. Jalalpour believed. Jalalpour also emphasized upon the need of direct shipping line or air route to transport goods and products between ports of Iran and Lebanon. “We should persuade both governments to work on this in to facilitate trade not only between two countries but also to ease re-exporting to the other countries in Middle East, Africa or Europe.”
For his part, Ali Hassan Khalil, Lebanese Minister of Finance highlighted the necessity of implementation of MoUs signed in recent years to boost the capacities of economical ties and said. “Both governments should wage attempts to remove trade barriers between two countries.”
Khalil underscored the importance of information exchange for investment opportunities; “Lebanon exports good to Iran worth export to Iran is about $ 3m and during the past years we faced a serious decrease in trade volume and thus we should activate and explore dormant capacities in search of compensations for that low-profile period.
Lebanese minister also stated that custom tariffs and tax regulations must be reviewed in a committee with participation of experts from both countries and that “we predict some plans to reach a satisfactory trade agreement in near future.”
SH/PR
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