TEHRAN (Iran News) – Non-oil products worth $61 million were exported from Arvand Free Trade Zone (FTZ), in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan, during the 1.5-month period since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), according to a provincial official.
Seyed Ali Mousavi, the deputy head of Arvand Free Zone Organization for investment and economic affairs, said the exported goods included construction materials, clinker, minerals, bitumen and various industrial oils, dates and dairy products, and were exported from the port of Shalamcheh and the ports of Khorramshahr and Abadan, which are located within the Arvand Free Zone.
These goods have been exported to Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, China, Australia and Germany, and some Central Asian countries, he added.
The official had previously announced that this zone attracted $52 million in the form of approved foreign investment projects during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).
He said the status of investment making is proper in this zone despite the sanctions.
Over the past two decades, free and special economic zones have played a significant role in Iran’s economy, and the Iranian government has been seriously pursuing a program for the development of the existing zones and establishing new ones.
According to Morteza Bank, the former secretary of Iranian Free Zones High Council, over 40 percent of Iran’s exports are done through the country’s free trade zones and special economic zones and $169 billion worth of commodities have been exported from these areas in the past seven years.
