TEHRAN (Iran News) – Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafei in meeting with Ambassador of Vietnam to Tehran Mr. Luong Quoc Huy said with having serious talks, Iran and Vietnam can develop their barter trade which can make ineffective banking hurdles and reinforce bilateral trade.
In the meeting, both sides emphasized necessity for removing hurdles in way of reinforcing economic co-operation between Tehran and Hanoi especially in solving banking problems.
Shafei pointed to Vietnam’s $550b trade volume in 2022 and said that economic relation between Iran and Vietnam is in a favorable level and there are high capacities and good diversity for cooperation between the two countries but at the same time there are serious problems and these problems are big hurdles in materializing the existing capacities.
He further said that banking and monetary and transportation are two major hurdles in way of broadening economic ties between the two countries, adding that fortunately there are high capacities for barter trade between the two states especially in agriculture. He noted that Iran needs Vietnam’s tropical fruits and rice and Vietnam also needs Iran’s products like apple, pomegranate and other agro products, and therefore both sides through serious talks can boost their barter exchanges to overcome banking problem.
Shafei then pointed to the free trade agreement between Vietnam and EAEU states and said that Iran has also entered this bloc and cooperation between Iran and Vietnam in this framework will be considerable. He stressed that by the way Vietnam is one of the active countries of ASEAN and Iran is also an active member of ECO and these capacities can be taken into consideration in line with broadening multilateral relations.
He reiterated that ICCIMA will support any action for reinforcing ties between Iran and Vietnam and is ready to increase talks between the private sectors of the two states and ready to exchange trade delegation between the two countries.
He noted that easing the trade exchange between the two states and visa process for economic activists can deepen impact on these programs.
Then Ambassador of Vietnam Mr. Huy, for his part, emphasized readiness for taking required actions for deepening ties between the two countries and said that Iran is one of major trade partners of Vietnam in the Middle East and Hanoi looks at Iran as a gateway for entering this region. He noted that Vietnam is also considered an important trade partner Iran in Southeast Asia but their trade volume is around $100m per year.
He also called for resolving monetary and banking problems between the two countries and said that for barter trade they need more studies because Vietnam does not have enough experience in barter trade and expressed hope they can gain information on this field through the assistance of Iran.
Huy also called for signing a MoU by the chambers of commerce of both countries for defining roadmap and policy for the ties between the private sectors of Iran and Vietnam. He stressed that he can provide the ground for holding B2B meeting between the economic activists and business owners of Iran and Vietnam in 2023.
He urged ICCIMA to introduce Iranian companies to the embassy which like to trade with Vietnam in the fields of agro and foodstuff like rice and pepper and the Vietnam Embassy will introduce the companies to their Vietnamese counterparts.
He added that the embassy is working to facilitate visa issuance for Iranian traders, adding that if the traders have letters of introduction from the ICCIMA, the visa issuance processes will be accelerated.
Then Head of Iran-Vietnam Joint Chamber of Commerce who was present in the meeting raised some suggestions for improving trade ties between Tehran and Hanoi.
Mostafa Mousavi said that launching the direct flight will help both countries to broaden their economic ties and his suggestions were welcomed by the Vietnamese diplomat.
