TEHRAN (Iran News) – In an in-presence and online meeting at Iran Chamber of Commerce, ways of boosting trade between Iran and Thailand were discussed and participants reiterated that Iran and Thailand should sign the preferential trade agreement to enhance bilateral trade.
The participants in the meeting called the preferential trade and joint investment a short-cut for reaching a sustainable trade between the two countries.
In the meeting Head of International of Iran Chamber of Commerce Mohammad Reza Karbasi expressed his dissatisfaction over the level of trade ties between Iran and Thailand and said that the rise in the awareness and familiarity of economic activists about the capacities of the two states for developing trade cooperation is necessary.
He then pointed to the considerable progress of Thailand in the field of agriculture and said Thailand has turned into the sixth rice producing and the second exporting country of this product in the world and the country is well known in production and export of textile and apparel, agro products, types of drinking, tobacco, concrete, electric equipment, cars, auto parts and agro machineries.
Karbasi said that capability of Thailand in the field of food production, export of dried fruit and other products is the ground for boosting the trade ties between Tehran and Bangkok, adding that both countries can help their trade ties to increase through joint investment, exchange of technical knowledge and special devices for producing dried fruit. He also said both countries can also barter trade in the field of agricultural products, fishery and halal food industries.
He noted that Thailand’s foreign trade in the first three quarters of 2021 has been over $413.3b and its exports stood at $216b and in return the imports were around $197.3b.
Karbasi also said that the trade volume of Iran and Thailand in the first three quarters of 2021 was around $198m as Iran’s exports to this country stood at $101m and Thailand exported $97m of goods to Iran. He noted on the whole Iran’s share of Thailand’s foreign trade is less than one percent.
He also called Iran and Thailand a bridge for the link of economic activists of the two states in East Asia, West Asia, Caucasus and Europe and emphasized that Thai companies by finding proper Iranian counterparts can enter other countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and other states in the Persian Gulf, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Karbasi also said that the good cooperation between chambers of commerce of the two countries is also necessary for improving the cooperation between the two countries and invited officials of Thailand’s chamber of commerce to pay a visit to Tehran after the end of the current pandemic restrictions in order to get familiar with Iran’s capacities.
He also emphasized reinforcing and resumption of the banking cooperation between the two countries for expansion of economic cooperation and noted that without banking relation those trade affairs will not materialize.
Karbasi also called for finalizing the agreement between Iran and Thailand in the fields of agriculture, standardization, preferential trade, incentives and reciprocal support from investment, and announced readiness of Iran Chamber of Commerce for improving the current level of trade with using the capacities of the private sectors of the two states.
Meanwhile deputy head of Thailand Chamber of Commerce, for his part, pointed to the historic relation between the two countries and called Iran as Thailand’s important trade partner in the field of agriculture and emphasized that Iran can turn into a center for export of Thai agro products to other countries in the region and turn into a hub in this field.
