Seoul Unable to Meet Tehran’s Medicine Demand
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – Head of Health Economy Committee of Tehran Chamber of Commerce says South Korea cannot meet Iran’s medicine demand through Iran’s frozen money in South Korean banks.
Mr. Mahmoud Najafi Arab says South Korea only provides some part of Iran’s medicines and other parts are provided through some European states and some small part through India.
Iran’s blocked money in South Korea is estimated to be between 6.5 to 9 billion dollars that Iran has been unable to unblock it in the past one year and a half and South Korean government has not even been ready to return at least $50m of the amount for provision of food and medicine because of the Coronavirus pandemic. So in such a condition, the issue of importing goods and especially health goods has been raised.
But Najafi Arab says this issue is impossible to happen because he has not so far heard any news about getting health goods instead of blocked money, adding that receiving medicines and health goods instead of blocked money from other countries has not happened yet.
He further said Iran is just importing a small part of its medicine needs from South Korea and provision of all its medicine demands from South Korea is impossible.
Najafi Arab added that Iran’s imports of medicine is in two forms of medicine and raw materials for medicine that raw materials are mostly imported from India and china and small part from South Korea.
He said in case Iran cannot get its money from countries because of sanctions, it can get its necessary goods from them instead of its money and if these commodities are among the basic goods, it can be a major step.
