Speaking in an interview with IRNA on Saturday, Mohsen Zarrabi said, “Given the suitable conditions for increasing diversity of Iranian export goods and existing infrastructures for re-export in Oman, the two countries of Iran and Oman enjoy high capacity to increase volume of bilateral trade up to $5 billion.”

Turning to the appropriateness of political and economic relations between the two countries of Iran and Oman, Zarrabi stated, “Concurrent with the establishment of Iran-Oman Joint Chamber of Commerce in 2013, volume of bilateral trade exchange between the two countries stood at over $221 million in absence of suitable and necessary infrastructures.”

With the improvement of infrastructures in 2018 including maritime lines, facilitation of registration of company and removal of visa between the two countries, Iran’s volume of trade to Oman hit about $1.161 billion in this period.

But Iran’s trade with the Sultanate of Oman decreased as much as 40 percent in 2019 due to some problems happened in the country such as daily directives issued ahead of banning export of goods and/or imposing export duties, etc., he added.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarrabi referred to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and closure of some borders in this period and reiterated, “Despite all problems and difficulties caused by the sanctions imposed against Iran and spread of COVID-19, trade volume exchange between Iran and Oman hit $797 million in 11 months of the last Iranian calendar year (from March 21, 2020 to Feb. 19, 2021), showing a considerable growth as compared to the same period of last year.”

Turning to the key role of Omani ports in importing goods to the Islamic Republic of Iran during the pandemic, the chairman of Iran-Oman Joint Chamber of Commerce stated, “In spite of closure of ports and borders on Iranian goods and commodities by many countries during the pandemic, Oman increased trade shipping lines between the two countries.”

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President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Mr. Gholam-Hossein Shafei and President of Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) Mr. Gennadiy Chyzhykov as well as other participants exchanged their views on how both countries can develop their bilateral trade.

Addressing the webinar, Mr. Shafei underscored this point that the private sectors of both countries are keen to boost bilateral trade, adding that sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic are two major factors that have recently hindered the development of trade relations between Iran and Ukraine.

He went on to say that however, state officials and private sectors of the two countries are very determined to develop ties, expressed hope that a brighter and more active economic prospect would be drawn up for both countries.

He also pointed to the restrictions in financial transactions and called for the launch and reinforcement of the barter trade system as he believes most of the problems will be solved by this action.

Shafei also admitted that the arrival of unprofessional tradesmen in the target countries leads to trade disputes and causes problems for the private sectors of the countries and suggested the establishment of some arbitration panels and credit bureaus to be put on the agenda. He reiterated he believes the establishment of arbitration panels has an important role in making healthy relations between the two states as well as presenting professional tradesmen.

Then, President of UCCI Mr. Chyzhykov, for his part, hinted at this point that once the trade volume of Iran and Ukraine was around $1b per year, and then elaborated economic capacities in front of Iran and Ukraine.

He said Ukraine is one of the leading countries in the field of processing industries, agriculture especially in producing types of liquid oil, sunflower, soya, and corn and this provides considerable cooperation opportunities between Iran and Ukraine.

He also pointed to Ukraine’s position in the world in the field of telecommunications and IT which can be good grounds for bilateral cooperation.

Chyzhykov admitted that financial exchanges and restrictions due to the sanctions have been one of the major hurdles in way of developing trade between both states and called for constant holding virtual meetings as well as forming specialized committees for resolving this problem.

Then Head of International Affairs of ICCIMA emphasized the implementation of preferential trade between the two countries and called for immediate signing of the preferential trade agreements which plays important role in boosting the trade volume between the two states.

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The MOU was signed during an Iran-Syria business forum which was held for the first time after over a decade hiatus due to war in the Arab country.
The event was attended by senior officials and businessmen from both sides, including TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari, Mahmoud Hamsho, the secretary general of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce, Hassan Danaiefar, the senior advisor to Iran’s first vice president in Syria and Iraq affairs, Syrian Ambassador to Tehran Adnan Mahmoud and Iran’s Ambassador to Damascus Javad Torkabadi.
Signing the MOU the two sides stressed all-out cooperation for development of economic ties and facilitating trade for the two countries’ businessmen and companies.
Bilateral trade low despite high political ties
Addressing the forum, TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari mentioned the good political relations between the two countries and criticized the mismatch between the level of economic ties and political ones.
He called for both sides taking necessary measures in order to fill this gap and escalate the two countries trade ties to the levels of political partnership.
He further voiced Iranian companies and private sector’s readiness for cooperation with their Syrian counterparts in reconstruction of Syria noting that Iran is going to have a significant role in Syria’s future markets.
Khansari also underlined the strategic and geographical situation of Syria stressing the fact that Syria could be used as a hub for exporting Iranian goods to other countries.
Implementing previous agreements
In another part of the event, the secretary general of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce expressed his country’s gratitude and satisfaction with the Islamic Republic’s all-out support and called for further expansion of ties in a variety of areas especially in economic fields.
Mahmoud Hamsho emphasized the need for implementing the previously signed economic agreements between the two sides, reassuring Iranian traders of his country’s full support for their activities in Syria.
“We will take all necessary measures to remove any probable issues and barriers in the way of trade between the two countries and to facilitate trade for the two sides’ businessmen”, Hamsho said.
Emphasizing Khansari’s remarks on the mismatch between political and economic relations, Hamsho also stressed the need for increasing the estimated $150-milion trade turnover between the two countries to much higher levels in the future.
The official mentioned creating joint ventures, establishing Iran-Syria joint chamber of commerce and holding exhibitions and exchanging economic delegations as ways of improving the economic ties between the two countries.
He further called for facilitation of customs affairs for Syrian goods in order to accelerate the process of exchanging commodities and goods between the two countries.
A roadmap for future co-op
At the end of the event, Hassan Danaiefar, the senior advisor to Iran’s first vice president in Syria and Iraq affairs, underlined the need for drawing a roadmap for addressing issues and problems in the way of trade between the two countries, saying that “there are many areas for economic cooperation like air and road transport, aviation, insurance, agriculture, industry and etc.”
He voiced Iran’s readiness for mutual cooperation in all such fields suggesting to use the two countries’ national currencies in trade.
Danaiefar further mentioned establishing joint banks and joint ventures as well as the Iran-Syria joint chamber of commerce as steps which should be taken in order to reach a desired trade level.

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According to the Indian agency, the decision has been discussed during a meeting between Prabhu and Iranian Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi in New Delhi.

“Our discussions were centered on expanding bilateral ties between India and Iran beyond the energy and security sector.” Prabhu tweeted after meeting with Akhoundi.

Prabhu was due to visit Tehran on October 2 to attend the ministerial meeting of the International North South Transport Corridor but apparently the visit has been postponed for some reasons.

India’s decision comes at the time when the U.S. has imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf country and is also trying to convince India and other countries to cut oil imports from Iran to zero by November 4 or face sanctions.

Iran is India’s third-largest oil supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The two countries current level of trade stands at $13.8 billion. India exports $2.65 billion worth of goods to Iran, while the imports from the Islamic Republic stand at $11.11 billion.

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