TEHRAN (Iran News) –  Preferential Tariff Agreement Necessary for Developing Tehran-Jakarta Ties. Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) in collaboration with the Iran-Indonesia Joint Commercial Committee held a webinar to review trade opportunities and capacities of Iran and Indonesia in the current economic condition.

In this webinar, the most important capacities ahead of both countries especially in the fields of mining, industry, agriculture, and technical and engineering services were reviewed.

Addressing the webinar, the head of international affairs of ICCIMA Mr. Mohammad Reza Karbasi explained the most important economic capacities of Iran and Indonesia, saying that Indonesia is one of the biggest and most populous Islamic countries which has one of the biggest economies in East Asia and most of the active population of this country is busy in the agriculture sector and in the small and medium-sized enterprises.

He emphasized the significance of Indonesia in the ASEAN region and called the country a gateway for the arrival of Iranian goods to the countries of the ASEAN region, and emphasized multilateral cooperation with this country due to its strategic position in the continent.

Karbasi noted that talks with Indonesian officials bespeak the fact that Indonesians are very keen Iran to import palm oil from Indonesia, adding that in this regards a mechanism for launching a barter trade is on the agenda.

He went on to say that rice, cocoa, palm oil, and coconut are major opportunities for cooperation between both states in the agro sector, noting that Indonesia can be a good market for Iran’s export of its dates.

Karbasi also said both countries have grown considerably in the industry sector, and they can take important actions in the mine discovery especially that both countries are eager to expand bilateral ties and the governments of both states are strongly determined to develop the ties.

On the low trade volume between Iran and Indonesia, he said in some period of time their trade volume has hit $2b and in 2007 and 2008 their trade volume grew considerably and their direct trade volume was around $916m while in that time a considerable amount of their goods were traded via the Persian Gulf countries.

He then pointed to the bilateral agreements between both states, saying that both countries were to sign preferential agreements to ease their trade but until now nothing has happened, reiterating that signing and implementing the preferential agreements is important for developing trade ties.

Karbasi also stated that once there was a direct shipping line between the two countries which reduced considerably the cost of trade but currently this line is limited and economic activists are obliged to use the ports of other countries, and for this reason, the cost of trade has increased highly.

He also called for the launch of direct flights between Tehran and Jakarta as well as diversifying the exporting goods to Indonesia and claimed other solutions for improving the bilateral trade.

Then the head of Iran-Indonesia Joint Commercial Committee Mr. Yadollah Tahernejad, for his part, explained the opportunities for entering Indonesia’s market in different fields.

He pointed to some fields that the private sector of Iran can have an active presence in Indonesia.

In the webinar, the participants also reiterated that holding virtual exhibitions in the current condition can be a good solution for making the private sector of Indonesia with Iran’s capabilities in the technical and engineering sector.