Iran, S. Africa Urged to Seek Implementation of MoUs
Iran, S. Africa Urged to Seek Implementation of MoUs
Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafei in meeting with Ambassador of South Africa to Tehran Vika Mazwi Khumalo called for implementation of the MoUs which have been signed between the two countries in the past because they are very important.

TEHRAN (Iran News) –Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafei in meeting with Ambassador of South Africa to Tehran Vika Mazwi Khumalo called for implementation of the MoUs which have been signed between the two countries in the past because they are very important.

In the meeting, Shafei pointed to the good and strategic position of South Africa and its stance in the region, adding that without any doubt South African traders and investors can create access for Iranians to considerable market in African continent. He then pointed to the good political relation between Iran and South Africa, and said that both sides should try to broaden their economic ties which is not unfortunately satisfactory and defendable.

He then added that one of the priorities of the current government in Iran is to broaden ties, and pointed to the efforts of South African ambassador in recent months for getting acquainted with the provincial capacities of Iran and stipulated that Iran has good capabilities for strengthening the level of ties and both sides should make efforts to take advantage of it.

Shafei then termed as promising meeting of the joint economic commission of Iran and South Africa in near future and added that in the past some good MoUs have been signed between the two states but none of them has been implemented yet and their implementations should be put on the agenda.

He recommended exchange of data and information between the joint committee and the commercial section of the South African Embassy in Tehran before the meeting of the joint economic commission convenes. He also called for prioritization for implementation of the delayed MoUs.

Shafei also called for dispatch of trade delegations between the two countries and announced readiness of the ICCIMA for sending delegation to South Africa.

He also reiterated that concentration on the barter trade between Iran and South Africa is very important, adding that it is possible between the agro sectors of the two countries and called for planning.

Shafei also pointed to some other fields for cooperation between the two states like technical and engineering services, transportation, medicines, medical equipment and metals.

Then South African Ambassador to Tehran Mr. Khumalo, for his part, said that the joint economic commission will be held after Iranian President’s visit to South Africa and during the visit the ground for interactions between statesmen of the two countries will be provided.

He admitted that some 23 MoUs have been signed between the two countries and considerable amount of the MoUs has not been implemented and called for immediate implementation of them based on the mutual interests.

He added that former governments of the two countries had set targets to increase their bilateral trade to $2b by 2022 which has not been materialized and there is a long way to go.

He admitted that the trade balance between Iran and South Africa has grown considerably, adding that small and medium size enterprises in both countries have opportunities to cooperate regardless of the U.S. sanctions.

Khumalo called for boosting the level of economic relation through finding new ways for expanding ties, reiterating that exchange of trade delegations is one of the ways for boosting trade and finding the needs of both countries by the traders.