TEHRAN (Iran News) –  The value of Iran’s trade with neighboring countries grew 43% percent last Iranian calendar year, compared to the previous one, which ended on March 20.

Head of Iran’s Customs Administration Alireza Moghaddasi said on Tuesday that the volume of trade reached nearly 52 billion dollars.

“Iran’s policy of convergence with the countries of the region, especially its neighbors in the current administration, has led to the growth of trade with all countries, especially neighbors, in parallel with efforts to increase production in the country,” the head of Iran’s Customs Administration explained.

“100 million and 131 thousand tons of goods worth 51 billion and 875 million dollars were exchanged last year between Iran and 15 neighboring countries,” Moghaddasi added.

The share of Iran’s exports to these countries was 26 billion and 29 million dollars, he said.

He added that Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and Pakistan were the most important destinations for Iranian exports.

Major export destinations of the Iranian non-oil goods were Iraq with $8.9 billion, Turkey with $6.1 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with $4.9 billion, Afghanistan with $1.8 billion, and Pakistan with $1.3 billion in imports from the Islamic Republic, followed by Oman, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, according to the official.

Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain were other top neighboring countries that supplied goods to Iran in 1400, respectively.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.

Iran shares land or water borders with 15 countries namely UAE, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia.

According to IRICA, Iran currently exports non-oil commodities to 40 European countries, 21 Asian countries, 28 African countries, and 12 American countries, while importing from 41 European countries, 31 Asian countries, 12 American countries, and 11 countries in Africa