TEHRAN (Iran News) –Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Hossein Selahvarzi has called for establishing new banking and monetary mechanisms to expand trade with Bulgaria, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Speaking in a meeting with Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Tehran Nikolina Konova on Monday, Selahvarzi said: “Iranian private sector is looking for ways to increase trade with other countries. Although there are many non-sanctioned areas for joint activity; we have to find new ways for financial exchanges.”

Referring to the drop in economic relations between Iran and other countries due to the imposition of sanctions in recent years, he said: “However, we believe that considering the old relationship between our countries, we can find ways to increase business exchanges in various fields, and this issue is one of the priorities of the ICCIMA in the new management term.”

Selahvarzi further stated that transportation is one of the important fields of cooperation between Iran and Bulgaria, adding: “Iran’s transportation is under the supervision of the ICCIMA, and due to membership in IRU (International Road Transport Union), we are the largest carnet customer in this organization. Therefore, we can have favorable cooperation in this field.”

While inviting the head of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce to travel to Iran at the top of a business delegation, the head of the Iran Chamber proposed holding a joint webinar with the presence of economic operators from both sides, so as to quickly provide a space for more familiarity with the investment opportunities of Iran and Bulgaria.

During the meeting, Konova also pointed out the political, economic, and cultural capacities of Iran and Bulgaria and noted that the lack of familiarity between Iranian and Bulgarian businessmen about the commercial potentials of the two countries is the most important obstacle in the way of the expansion of mutual trade.

Referring to the interest of Bulgarian businesses to cooperate with Iranian companies, she continued: “What is important in exchanging business delegations…[because] without this, only 20 percent of merchants can find their peers correctly. In this context, the role of the chambers of commerce of both sides will be very important.”