TEHRAN (Iran News) – Head of Iran-Syria Joint Chamber of Commerce says soon a data bank on Syria’s economic needs will be unveiled which will help Iranian economic activists in trade with this Arab state.

Speaking in the Conference of Opportunities and Solutions for Trade With Syria, Keyvan Kashefi began his remarks with a report on the challenges, opportunities, and suggestions for developing trade with Syria and then said despite the emphasis on developing political ties, the economic relations with Syria is not satisfactory yet.

He added that Syria like Iran is under sanctions and it has made the Syrian economy shrink, adding that by the way, we see the dominance of state bodies in different sectors and it is an advantage and disadvantage.

Kashefi noted that despite actions taken by both sides, in the field of transportation there is still no shortest and fastest route available for access to Syria, and in travels and air flights there are also some challenges, expressing hope after the consultations the number of direct flights to Syria would increase.

Explaining major actions of the Iran-Syria Joint Chamber of Commerce, he said preparation of consultation packages for economic activists is one of them, adding that soon a data bank that covers the latest economic needs of Syria will be unveiled by the chamber.

He also pointed to the specialized Iran Pavilion at Idlib Exhibition in Syria which covers an extensive group of audiences and it will be a good opportunity for the presence of economic activists and Iranian companies.

Then Head of Iran Trade Promotion Organization Mr. Hamid Zadboum let the participants be familiar with the preliminary actions taken for developing ties between Iran and Syria in the next Iranian calendar year and said speaking about Syria is both easy and hard.

He then added that actions of the joint chamber especially regarding the launch of a trade center in Syria have shaped the infrastructure for boosting the ties but this is the economic activists of the private sector who should exploit this opportunity.

Zadboum also explained about Iran’s free trade agreement with Syria, saying that free trade agreement is one way for developing bilateral trade whose ground has been paved by the industry ministry, reiterating that although Iran has no free trade agreement with any country, Syria is the only country which has signed such an agreement but economic activists have not used it yet.

He went on to say that the government is doing its best with the assistance of Majlis and the approval of Syria could zero the number of custom tariffs on goods and the number of items of goods would also be increased as much as possible.

He also announced plans to improve trade relations with Syria until 2024.