TEHRAN (Iran News) –Iran and Kyrgyzstan in the joint business forum which was held at Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) explored ways for expanding their economic ties and blamed transportation and financial transactions as major hurdles in way of broadening trade ties.
In the Iran-Kyrgyzstan Business Forum at ICCIMA, Head of ICCIMA Gholam-Hossein Shafei said that Kyrgyzstan is special priority of Iran’s private sector for broadening economic cooperation but restrictions in transportation and money transfer have made difficult increase of trade level.
He then pointed to the preferential trade agreement of Iran and the EAEU and good economic relation growth with the EAEU states and expressed hope this successful experience will continue with next steps in free trade agreement.
Shafei noted that although Iran and Kyrgyzstan have witnessed rise in trade in the past two years and their annual trade is now around $80m, the figure does not match their economic capacities.
The ICCIMA head pointed to Kyrgyzstan’s active participation in global economic interactions and the country’s membership in EAEU and the Shanghai Pact and said: “Cooperation in the field of transportation and financial exchanges can be realized in the form of a comprehensive agreement with the members of the mentioned treaties.”
He further expressed the Iranian private sector’s readiness for active cooperation with their counterparts in Kyrgyzstan, noting that for realizing the economic goals set for the two nations, obstacles in the way of trade must be removed.
Then President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic T.A.Sariev, for his part, referred to Iran’s high capacity for economic cooperation and noted that the level of commercial exchanges between the two countries is insufficient.
“Despite the problems and financial exchange restrictions, I believe that Iran has opened its way out of the sanctions. Kyrgyzstan can also be with Iran in this direction. By knowing more about the business opportunities of the two countries, we can find new ways to increase the level of business cooperation,” he added.
He noted that representatives of 40 Kyrgyz companies are accompanying him to Tehran to participate in the IRAN EXPO 2023, adding that Kyrgyz economic activists hope they can find their Iranian trade partners in the exhibition for joint investment and cooperation.
He reiterated that Kyrgyzstan has good opportunities for joint investment because productions in this country can be used in Kyrgyzstan and also be exported to China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.
Then Kyrgyzstan Ambassador to Tehran Turdakun Sydykov, for his part, said that Kyrgyz traders in Tehran are after identifying capacities of Iran and this expo is the first step, adding that he expects such an expo to be held in Kyrgyzstan.
He then invited Iranian companies to come to Kyrgyzstan and to launch joint production line, adding that there are a large number of opportunities as the country is an EAEU member and it has preferential tariffs with Eurasia for over 1000 items of goods and therefore the opportunity for cooperation is available.
