TEHRAN (Iran News) – Talks with Tokyo Underway for Unfreezing Iran’s $3b.Talks with Tokyo Underway for Unfreezing Iran’s $3b. Chairman of the Iran-Japan Joint Trade Committee says Japan’s Ambassador to Tehran and also Iran’s Foreign Minister are pursuing the issue of unfreezing Iran’s money in Japan and President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi is also involved in it in order to use the money in some way and it seems we will hear good news soon.
Speaking to ILNA and touching upon the current condition of trade between Iran and Japan, Bahram Shakouri said the trade exchange between Iran and Japan has not only failed to grow but also it has faced decline because Iran’s major export to Japan, oil, has declined.
He added that Iran’s other exports have also faced slump due to the sanctions and the country’s imports from Japan were mostly machineries which slowed down. He noted that actually other countries like China have replaced Japan, adding that these items are imported from other countries than Japan but since the Japanese are the trade partner of the U.S. and has invested considerably in the U.S., they are cautious in trade with Iran.
He stated that the trade volume of Iran and Japan is so low that it does not worth to be mentioned, adding that in some issues Iran has exchanges with Japan but it does it via the third party country due to the sanctions, and for this reason there is no precise figure for the trade between the two states. He noted that Iran’s trade with japan seems to be done via neighboring countries like Turkey, the UAE and Oman.
When Shakouri was asked on Iran’s carpet exports to Japan, he said Iran has always had carpet exports to European and Asian countries like Japan and it still has but its amount is not considerable now, adding that Iran exports carpet, shrimps and fruit juice to Japan.
He said naturally and logically Iran should not have oil export to Japan even unofficially because in case the Japanese are willing to buy Iran’s oil unofficially, they will be unable to pay as they have not paid for Iran’s previous oil sales and therefore oil export to Japan is not logical.
On the condition of Iran’s frozen money in Japan, Shakouri said that Iran’s frozen money in Japan is around $3b and the new government is pursuing it to unfreeze the money. He noted that the committee’s suggestion was to use the frozen money for buying vaccines but it is unlikely those frozen money to have been used for vaccine.
He reiterated that the government should strive to freeze the money in any form and the money can be used for imports of machineries and technologies. He said however Japan is a country enjoys having the most advanced technologies and whatever Iran looked for it in the U.S. and Europe, it can find it in Japan and therefore Iran can import equipment and technology in exchange for its frozen money. Shakouri said for example Iran can import mining machineries or machineries being used in drilling and exploration.
He concluded talks are underway as Japan’s ambassador and Iran’s foreign minister are trying to resolve this problem and it seems soon we witness good results and news.
