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Ruhollah Latifi said that agricultural products and foodstuff accounted for 10.3 percent of the value and six percent of the weight of Iran’s non-oil export during the seven-month period.

Last week, Agriculture Minister Javad Sadati Nejad said his ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pursuing to develop interactions with neighboring countries to boost exports of agricultural products and realize the country’s goal for becoming an agriculture hub in the region.

“Given the capacities of neighboring countries and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the field of economic diplomacy, we can increase the export of agricultural products and interaction with neighbors and become a commercial agricultural hub in the region,” Sadati Nejad said in meeting with his deputies.

As reported by Mehr News Agency, in the said meeting, the official called on his deputies to prepare a list including the export, import and technological needs of the agricultural sector in order to provide to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so that this ministry can refer the needs and capacities of the agricultural sector to embassies.

In the meeting, Mehdi Safari, deputy of economic diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized the expansion of Iran’s agricultural cooperation with neighboring countries and called for introducing Iran’s export potential and import needs in the agricultural sector to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Safari underlined the need for the introduction and transfer of technologies needed by the agricultural sector to the country with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and suggested holding specialized meetings with the presence of deputies of the Agriculture Ministry and heads of specialized organizations.

Despite the economic sanctions, the coronavirus pandemic and the current drought, the exports of Iran’s agricultural products have been increasing in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21) compared to the previous year.

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Addressing the webinar, Head of the Iran-Oman Joint Chamber of Commerce Mohsen Zarrabi said that Iran and Oman can enhance their trade relation by focusing on cooperation in fishery, mining, and tourism sectors regarding the Oman Five-Year Development Plan.

He added that he believes the ground for growth in the bilateral relation and investment of Iranians in Oman is ready.

He added that fishery, mining, and tourism are the sectors that both countries can engage in cooperation.

Zarrabi then elaborated the details and trade and investment capacities in Oman and said due to economic security and stability in Oman, and its favorable political relation with Iran and other countries has turned this Arab country into a strategic partner for Iran.

He also called for developing the infrastructures for the connection of these two countries which has started in 20015 based on the plans of the joint chamber.

Zarrabi noted that Oman has eased the visa process for Iranians as Iranian nationals do not need visas for staying less than 14 days and for a longer stay, they can get visas upon their arrival at airports.

He also said Oman has allocated to ports of Suwayq and Sultan Qaboos for Iranian ships and goods and Iranians can register their companies in the free zones and even in the mainland as shareholders.

He expressed hope with the new facilities provided by Oman, Iran’s share of this country’s total imports would increase up to 10 percent.

Zarrabi also said that several unnecessary directives and regulations have hindered Iranians from having a strong presence in the target markets, adding that these overnight regulations have harmed the reputation of Iranian tradesmen.

Meanwhile Head of International Affairs of ICCIMA Mr. Mohammad Reza Karbasi, for his part, said that Oman is one of Iran’s major trade partners and the trade volume of these two countries has not been affected under the sanctions or the COVID-19 pandemic and it has even enhanced. He added that fortunately, the approaches of both governments regarding boosting cooperation have always been positive.

He then pointed to four properties of Oman for Iran. Karbasi also pointed to the direct flights between Iran and Oman, saying that fortunately, there are several direct flights from different cities of Iran like from Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, and Kish to Oman, and this has helped the level of ties between the two countries to increase considerably.

He also said easing the visa issuance for Iranians has been another positive development in the relation of both countries which will have an effective role in enhancing the trade relations between Tehran and Muscat.

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Speaking in an exclusive interview with Iran Daily, Ali-Akbar Khodaei added Iran has exported close to 600 million tons of aquatic animals to Russia since March 2019.

He put at 280 million tons Iran’s overseas sales of aquatic animals to Russia in the year to March 2019, saying over the past few years, the European state has sought to boost trade with regional countries, including Iran, to meet its domestic demands, and, thus, has become a new market for Iranian fisheries exports.

The adoption of new trade policies by Russia in the field of importing fisheries products has provided Iran with a new opportunity to raise its exports of aquatic animals.

Prior to the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in China, in January, Russians banned imports of aquatic animals from the East Asian country.

Khodaei said that the decision was made by Russia due to the low quality of the Chinese fisheries products, as they contained traces of antibiotics and heavy metals, and the frauds in terms of the weight and size of the overseas sales from China.

“At present, a large number of Russian traders and companies that were not previously among the customers of the Iranian products have expressed willingness to purchase fisheries products from Iran and regularly contact us.”

He also said that since Iran’s exports to Russia have recently gained momentum, they are expected to witness a more significant growth in the year to March 2021.

Commenting on the negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran on the country’s fisheries exports, Khodaei said since China is the main market for Iranian aquatic animals, the epidemic has adversely influenced Iranian exports to the East Asian state, creating problems for customs clearance of the goods at Chinese ports.

He added given that the spread of coronavirus in China had, in general, reduced demand for foodstuff and meat products in the country, resulting in Chinese storerooms being full to the brim, they refrained from unloading Iranian fisheries products at some ports despite having paid for them.

“The problem, however, was resolved in the past two weeks.”

In the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, a number of other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, the UAE and Russia, suspended imports of fisheries products from Iran, Khodaei said, giving the assurance that this was also resolved through negotiations between Iranian officials and those of these countries and adoption of preventive and protective measures at the borders.

He described as normal the trend currently reflected by Iran’s exports of aquatic animals, noting that the country is also importing such products from states such as China.

“For instance, we are importing a large amount of tuna from China for the use of our domestic companies.”

He said during the past few years, Iran’s exports of aquatic animals witnessed an average annual growth of between 10 percent and 15 percent each year, regretting that the increasing trend was halted in the current Iranian year due to the problems caused by US sanctions on the country.

In May 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the P5+1 in July 2015, and reimposed Washington’s unilateral sanctions on Tehran.

Iran retaliated by scaling back from its commitments under the deal as the European signatories also failed to honor their undertakings within the JCPOA.

Khodaei said in the year to March 2019, Iran exported 134,000 tons of fisheries products valued at $528 million, adding this comes as, during March 2019-January 2020, the country’s overseas sales of such products stood at 117,000 tons, worth $400 million.

He regretted that these figures fail to exceed those of the last year by March 19, 2020, remaining almost the same.

Khodaei listed some of Iran’s fisheries exports in the previous year as shrimp (close to 30,000 tons), caviar, common carp, trout, and sea bass.

IFPTU secretary-general said last year, Iran produced 47,000 tons of shrimp, predicting almost the same figure for the current year.

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