TEHRAN (Iran News) – Tehran is ready to increase trade exchanges with Ankara, Head of Iran Customs Administration Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi said on Sunday.
Mir-Ashrafi made the remarks via a videoconference with Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Customs and Trade Riza Tuna Turagay, reported Fars News Agency.
He expressed readiness for holding a meeting on Bazargan-Gor Bolag border and implementing the pilot plan of the technical final project for exchanging customs information.
The official added that Iran’s customs also suggested pursuit of the possibility of electronic inquiry of the certificate of origin from the relevant Turkish officials.
Mir-Ashrafi noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration is ready to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on implementing the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) and green corridor.
He announced an increase in the capacity of accepting trucks at Gor Bolag Custom and Esendere border in Turkey.
“The Turkish side has started accepting 120 people per day in the Esendere border since August 14,” Mir-Ashrafi noted.
He added that 110 trucks move toward Turkey per day and 50 others move toward Iran.
The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said in 2019 that the use of local currencies in bilateral trade with Turkey would increase thanks to new agreements reached on the sidelines of a high-profile meeting between presidents of the two countries.
Abdolnaser Hemmati said in September 2019, after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara that the two had agreed to increase the use of Iran’s rial and Turkey’s lira in trade between the neighbors.
He said in a post on his Instagram page that the two countries’ central banks would seek to go beyond the current size of trade payments settled in local currencies, which he said is around 34 percent of their total exchanges.
The announcement comes amid Iran’s efforts to use payment mechanisms that could protect trade with other countries from US sanctions.
- source : Iran Daily
