TEHRAN (Iran News) –Chairman of Iran-Switzerland Joint Chamber of Commerce Sharif Nezam Mafi believes shut down of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) is not so important because in the current condition it was unable to boost Iran’s trade.
Speaking to ILNA and touching upon the effect of shutting down od INSTEX by Europe on trade between Iran and Switzerland, Nezam Mafi said that in fact INSTEX due to sanctions restrictions has been a pretext for lack of free trade and in the current condition is makes no difference. He added that INSTEX was an idea which was never materialized practically and it was the outcome of a restriction and one could not expect it to ease economy and free trade, he added therefore this mechanism is not so much important because in the current climate, the INSTEX structure also was unable to do special thing to boost the trade volume.
Established in January 2019 by the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, INSTEX’s shareholders later came to include the governments of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Sweden, and Norway.
On exports of oil products to Switzerland, he said that the exports of oil products in exports are not significant because due to the banking problems due to the U.S. sanctions, Swiss companies do not work with Iran.
On the possibility of gas export to Switzerland, he said that currently Switzerland needs gas considerably and Iran had signed an agreement with Switzerland for gas exports which was not implemented.
On the trade relation between Switzerland and Iran, Nezam Mafi said that the trade relation between the two states is old and their economy are complementary because technology and different economic process of Switzerland are welcomed in Iran and Swiss companies have active presence in Iran. He added that Iran’s market is known for Swiss companies and if one day we can export gas and oil products, Switzerland can be a suitable market.
He noted that the major trade of Iran with Switzerland is grain, medical equipment and medicines and some famous Swiss testing, inspection and certification companies like Cotechna are working in Iran.
He added that Iran is the only country which can export gas to Europe with direct pipeline to replace Russia’s gas but in the geopolitical and political world it is impossible otherwise Iran can replace Russia and political problems do not it happen.
Nezam Mafi said that recent sanctions imposed by Europe has not too much impact on Iran-Switzerland trade, adding that because Swiss officials do not make decisions based on the domestic issues of the countries but due to the EU’s approach especially Germany’s approach to these issues, Switzerland will be forced in the future to adopt policies in compliance with EU.
He added that although Switzerland is not an EU member state, it cannot act against the move of Europe because European countries are Switzerland’s important trade partner despite neutrality of this country. Therefore Switzerland will be affected by the policies of EU and Germany, he added.
