TEHRAN (Iran News) –  With the launch of Iran-Russia customs green corridor, Iran’s exports to Russia has increased by 49 percent in the first quarter of this year comparing to the same period last year while at the same time the country’s imports from Russia also have faced 15 percent growth.
The meeting of the customs managers of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) was held on the topic of customs green corridor. In the meeting deputy head of chamber on provinces and formations Mr. Mozaffar Alikhani talked about the necessity of holding the meeting, adding that Iran’s cooperation with the neighboring and regional states especially with the EAEU member states, while its economy and trade is challenging and suffering with sanctions restrictions, is very important and the meeting was to aimed at easing exploitation of the trade opportunities ahead of Iran.
Then Head of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Mr. Hadi Tiz Housh Taban, for his part, pointed to some problems ahead of traders for using the capacity of the green corridor and said that since 2016 that the creation of this corridor was signed by Iran and Russia, such a corridor was created by Turkey, adding that while Turkey’s volume of exporting agro raw material has hit $6b, Iran has been unable to use all capacities of the corridor. He noted of course there are several reasons behind that lack of information of economic activists from this occasion and the issue of coding are some of them. He said if Iran Customs Administration itself does coding process, some of the problems of traders will be resolved and the can export major parts of their agro raw material to Russia.
He also said that turning Astara Khan Customs into a cross border custom is another problem because most of Iran’s trade exchanges with Russia is done via Astara Khan.
Then director general of international co-operations office of Iran Customs Administration Mr. Kakhaki talked about the advantages of admission and activities of traders at the green corridor and said the project for the launch of Iran-Russia custom green corridor began 2006 which was aimed at paving the ground for easing the trade exchange between the two states. He said the green corridor minimizes the risk of customs offences and boosting information access for the economic activists.
Kakhaki then pointed to the comparative statistics of trade exchange of Iran and Russia in the first quarter of this year and last year, and added fortunately the trade exchange between Iran and Russia has increased this year, notingg that Iran’s imports from Russia have been valued at $772m in the first quarter this year which shows 15 percent growth comparing to the preceding year while at the same time Iran’s exports to Russia increased by 49 percent.
He also pointed to the problems regarding the SWIFT activities, adding that the transfer of forex between Iran and Eurasian states faces the same problem.