Iran-Germany Trade Volume Halved in 201
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
Iranian business activists warned on Tuesday that they will not wait for Europe for trade and they will replace them with other partners.
A forum entitled “Iran-Germany Commercial Relations: Situation and Prospects” was held at Tehran’s Parsian Azadi Hotel on Tuesday.
Deputy German Ambassador to Iran Oliver Schnakenberg; CEO of German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK) Dagmar von Bohnstein; President of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Masoud Khansari; and President of AHK in Iran Abbasali Ghassaie were among participants of this event.
The meeting was organized with the aim of surveying the present condition of bilateral trade and bottlenecks facing businesspeople from the two countries.
Addressing the forum Head of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce Mr. Khansari pointed to the bilateral relations between Iran and Germany, adding that the ties have been in the highest level with the least tension. He noted Germany is fourth economy in the world but the country in reacting to the U.S. pressures regarding trade with Iran has been weak.
He added that although Europeans proposed launching a financial mechanism, SPV, but it failed, adding that now another mechanism, INSTEX, has been offered but this mechanism has also not been operationalized and it seems Iran cannot rely on this mechanism and Iran’s economy has no way but to shift its view from the West to the East.
Khansari pointed to some economic turbulence in the country last year especially in the forex market which created great headache for national economy.
He added that fortunately in the current year, stability has returned to the national economy and despite sanctions, the country relies on its domestic production and neighboring markets.
He reiterated that sanctions helped the country to turn to domestic production and indigenizing necessary products.
Khansari said that Iran does not want to be a mere importer and consumer but it wants to focus on domestic production and joint cooperation.
He also pointed to the trade with neighboring countries, adding that those countries enjoy huge capacities for cooperation with Iran and the country’s trade with those countries are around $30b.
He also reiterated Germany should not expect Iran to be a mere importer of its goods and services to Iran while it snubs buying goods from Iran.
Khansari said that some goods are not sanctioned by the U.S. but the Germans are not even ready to trade those goods.
He concluded Iran cannot wait for too long for Europe’s action regarding trade with Iran.
Meanwhile addressing the forum, Managing Director of German-Iranian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK) Ms. Dagmar Von Bohnstein said that the economic relation between Iran and Germany continues but they cannot be happy for the current condition.
She said in 2010, the trade volume between both states was 4.8b euros and it fell to 2.1b euros in 2013 due to sanctions but it bounced back to 3.4b euros after the JCPOA. She went on to say that reimposition of sanctions once again led to decline in trade volume and it reached now around 3.1b euros in 2018.
She admitted that Germany’s exports to Iran dropped by 45% in 2019 and at the same time Iran’s exports to Germany have faced 57$ fall in the same period. She noted that almost the trade between Iran and Germany has been halved this year.
She admitted that Germany’s machinery sector has harmed more than any other sector from the sanctions and its trade with Iran has declined from 4.1b euros in 2010 to 183m euros in 2019.
She admitted that importance of U.S. market for German companies is undeniable and German companies are not ready to risk their trades with the U.S. for Iran.
She also criticized investment indexes in Iran, adding that German auto-making company Volkswagen was eager to invest in Iran but it ultimately chose Turkey.
She added some restrictions by Iran on imports would lead to smuggling and it discourages European companies to invest Iran.
Meanwhile Deputy German Ambassador to Tehran Oliver Schnakenberg pointed to the history of economic relation of Iran and Germany, admitting that trade volume of both countries has been halved.
He added that German companies left Iran’s market unwillingly and due to the U.S. pressures, noting as long as the tension is de-escalated, they can return to Iran’s market.
He reiterated that German government is determined to save the JCPOA, considering it an economic pact which guarantees the security.
He added that German Embassy by moving its visa center to a bigger building is to increase its visas for Iranians to 65,000 per year.
