TEHRAN (Iran News) –The chairman of the Iran-Japan Joint Trade Committee believes Japan can be a good choice for Iran to improve its auto industry provided that it shows interest in cooperation with Japan and JCPOA talks end successfully and sanctions are removed.
Speaking to ILNA, Bahram Shakouri talked about the latest developments in trade between Iran and Japan and said that Japan is one of the most advanced countries in industry in the world, as everybody knows it well that automakers active in Japan are international and they sell 75% of their products in the international markets.
Touching upon the remarks of Japan Ambassadors regarding cooperation between the two countries in the field of auto making, Shakouri said that Mr. Ambassador is completely right, adding that since major shares of Japanese products are sold in the U.S. market and they have American partners and actually they have joint investment with the U.S., there is no possibility for the presence of Japanese carmakers in Iran’s market due to the sanctions. He added that of course one of the good choices for cooperation with Iran can be Japan along with imports of cars from China because Japan is one of those countries which can develop Iran’s auto industry provided that Iranians show interests and the JCPOA talks end successfully and sanctions are removed.
He also criticized the approval for setting price ceiling of 20,000 euros for import of any car , adding that Japanese car can also enter Iran’s market with this price ceiling but it seems the figure should be changed because this price ceiling actually will push the purchasers towards low quality Chinese cars.
Shakouri then talked about the history of Iran-Japan ties and said that a couple of years ago both countries celebrated their 90th anniversary of ties and it bespeaks of century-long and close relation between the two states. He reiterated that Japan government and people are interested in cooperation with Iran and on the whole Iran enjoys distinguished strategic position in the region and he believes Iran can be a hub in the region for production and export of any products.
He then pointed to some hurdles in way of imports from Japan and said that long distance is the most important hurdle but currently sanctions is the main problem for imports from Japan and it has helped Japan to boost its ties with other countries in the region.
Shakouri said that Iran can have huge amount of exports to Japan and in return, it can import the latest technology and knowhow from Japan and both countries can cooperate on the joint venture projects.
He went on to say that Iran can cooperate with Japan in the fields of technology, rail transportation and infrastructures, auto making, tourism, gas fields and other industries, and Japan also can enjoy importing Iranian carpets, caviar, saffron, pistachio and dried fruits. He reiterated that in case sanctions are removed, Iran and Japan can improve the level of trade ties.
Shakouri went on to say that currently the official trade volume of Iran and Japan in the current year has been less than $30m and it has been mainly imports of Japan because major exports of Iran to Japan have been oil and oil products which have been zeroed due to the sanctions.
