TEHRAN (Iran News) –Private sectors of Iran, Ukraine hold online meeting to discuss trade. Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) held an online specialized meeting in collaboration with the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) to explore ways of expanding trade ties between the two countries.
The virtual event was attended by the head of the two countries’ chambers of commerce, the head of Iran-Ukraine Joint Chamber of Commerce, as well as officials and private sector representatives from both sides, the ICCIMA portal reported.
Cooperation in the agriculture sector was the main focus of the mentioned event since most of the trade exchanges between the two countries in the previous year were related to agricultural products.
Speaking in the meeting, ICCIMA Head Gholam-Hossein Shafeie called the meeting a new beginning for trade talks between the private sectors of the two countries and stated: “This is the first specialized meeting between businessmen of the two countries, and due to the high capacities of the two countries in the agriculture sector, we dedicated this meeting to this field.”
Referring to the close relations between the two countries’ chambers of commerce and the exchanges of trade delegations in the past, Shafeie praised the activities of the Iran-Ukraine Joint Chamber of Commerce and its impact on the future of trade between the two countries.
According to the official, unfortunately, in recent years, restrictions imposed by the U.S. sanctions on Iran have negatively affected the two countries’ trade with each other, mainly due to problems with financial exchanges.
“One of the best solutions for increasing the volume of trade between the two countries is a serious focus on the agriculture sector,” he stressed.
Gennadiy Chyzhykov, the UCCI president, for his part expressed satisfaction with the appropriate level of cooperation between the two countries’ chambers of commerce.
He referred to a memorandum of understanding signed between the two chambers in 2017, and said: “This cooperation has been established according to the 2017 memorandum and fortunately, is still ongoing.”
Chyzhykov put the level of trade between the two countries in the previous year at about $400 million, noting that 95 percent of the mentioned figure was allocated to agricultural products.
“This indicates the significant role of the agricultural sector in relations between Iran and Ukraine,” he added.
Elsewhere in the meeting, the Head of Iran-Ukraine Joint Chamber of Commerce Hamidreza Ghadi stressed the need for promoting barter trade between the two countries as a good way for boosting the two sides’ trade level.
