TEHRAN (Iran News) –Hojatollah Abdolmaleki, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Free Trade-Industrial and Special Economic Zones , said that currently 70 percent of commodities transited via Iran are transited through the free trade zones (FTZs) of the country.
Iran is one of the countries with a special status in trade and transit relations due to its strategic location and special geography, as the country is the passage of several important international corridors.
Considering its geographical location, Iran can play a significant role in the transit of goods in the region and benefit a lot from its status in this due.
Paying attention to upstream documents, especially the country’s development plans, and the government’s decision to develop transit, paying special attention to infrastructure development, reducing transit time, making it cheaper to cross Iran and making more advantages over competitors, due to the short path for customers, can lead to facilitating the development of transit so that the country can reach the desired growth in this due.
The secretary of the Free Zones High Council announced that Iran is negotiating with 17 countries for the establishment of joint free zones and said by setting up these free zones, trade and investment will be facilitated.
Abdolmaleki named Russia as one of the countries in this due.
In early June, Deputy Transport Minister Shahriyar Afandizadeh announced that the Transport and Urban Development Ministry is preparing a five-year comprehensive plan for increasing transportation and transit relations with Central Asia, as well as the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman countries.
In mid-Mach, the deputy head of the Free Zones High Council said that Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to form a joint free trade zone on the border of the two countries in the near future.
According to Ahmad Jamali, the decision for establishing the mentioned zone was made during the two countries’ fifth Joint Economic Committee meeting in Baghdad.
Underlining the fact that three of Iran’s major free zones are located near the Iraqi border, Jamali noted that along with the joint zone, these four free trade zones can play a significant role in boosting the trade exchanges between the two countries.
The establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) in Iran dates back to the Iranian calendar year 1368 (March 1989 – March 1990) following the fall in the country’s oil income in the preceding year which prompted the government to promote non-oil exports.
Last month, Deputy Transport Minister Shahriyar Afandizadeh announced that the Transport and Urban Development Ministry is preparing a five-year comprehensive plan for increasing transportation and transit relations with Central Asia, as well as the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman countries.
According to Afandizadeh, the mentioned plan is being prepared in collaboration with all related bodies, and negotiations are underway for its finalization under the framework of several memorandums of understanding (MOUs) at the level of the relevant ministers.
