Hassan Rahimizadeh, the director-general of the province’s Customs Department, announced that 848,200 tons of commodities worth $262.898 million has been exported from the province in the said four-month, which shows 19 percent drop in terms of weight.

The official further said that 495 tons of products worth $6.119 million has been imported to the province in the first four months of this year.

He mentioned Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan as the major export destinations, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan as the main sources of imports in the said time span.

As announced by the head of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil trade rose 47 percent during the first four months of the current year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi has said that Iran has traded 50.8 million tons of non-oil products worth nearly $29 billion with other countries in the mentioned four-month period, which indicates also 21 percent growth in terms of weight on an annual basis.

The official put the four-month non-oil export at 38.3 million tons valued at $14.3 billion, with a 65-percent rise in value and a 27-percent growth in weight.

The IRICA head mentioned liquefied gas, polyethylene, iron semi-finished products, methanol, gasoline, iron and steel ingots, steel products, iron rods, liquid propane, bitumen, and copper cathode as the main exported products in the said time span.

He said major export destinations of the Iranian non-oil goods were China with about 10 million tons worth $4.3 billion, Iraq with 10.9 million tons worth $2.8 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 4.3 million tons worth $1.6 billion, Turkey with one million tons worth $923 million, and Afghanistan with 1.8 million tons worth $728 million.

The official further announced that Iran has imported 12.5 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $14.5 billion in the first four months of the present year, with 32 percent growth in value and five percent rise in weight year on year.

He said that the basic goods accounted for 9.4 million tons of the imported items.

Mir-Ashrafi named cellphones, livestock corn, sunflower oil, barley, meal, wheat, soybeans, sugar and rice as the main imported commodities.

The United Arab Emirates with four million tons of goods worth $4.7 billion was the first largest exporter of goods to Iran in the four-month period, followed by China with one million tons of goods worth $3.1 billion, Turkey with 1.3 million tons worth $1.5 billion, Germany with 351,000 tons worth $563 million, and Switzerland with 672,000 tons worth $539 million, the official stated.

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The first VP called for removing barriers for the development of business and removal of water management problems in the province, as well.

Earlier in January 2019, in a visit held between the Governor General of South Khorasan province Mohammad Sadeq Motamedian and Acting Head of Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries Kamila Sidiqi at the venue of Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries, the two sides placed their special emphasis on expanding and broadening their trade ties.

For his part, Motamedian pointed to the high capacities and potentials of South Khorasan province in various fields of trade, business, mines, transit and infrastructures available in joint border areas and called for taking more advantage of these capacities.

Officials of South Khorasan province and activists of the private sector are ready to promote trade activities between Iran and Afghanistan [including setting up joint processing and export companies, importing some Afghan products into Iran and/or transiting products to other countries], he maintained.

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Makhunik is known to LILIPUT land because of its dwarf residents and the tales around them; people who have an Afghan nationality and migrated to the area several hundred years ago. Most of its inhabitants were hardly taller than one meter in the past. However, experts say only a handful of dwarf residents still live there. Researchers believes that marriages between close relatives, poor diet and drinking water laced with mercury had left the inhabitants of Makhunik half a meter short than the average height of that time. Makhunik’s residents have inherited short stature disease from their fathers, generation by generation.

It is said that, an Afghan man, along with his family left Afghanistan and came to Iran about 400 years ago. They sought refuge in the Makhunik area in search of a place to live and they settled in this land.

But this is not the only attractive feature. Makhunik is also popular for its ancient-style architecture as well as its unique tradition and culture. The residents of Makhunik built their houses based on architectural styles in the Neolithic Era. The buildings’ color once served as camouflage; it was impossible to spot them from the mountains at a distance.

If you walk through the narrow alleys of the village, you will see small adobe houses with very tiny walls and doors. These tiny houses have been built next to each other into the earth hollows on the slopes of the hills. They have been built of stone and soil, and their roof is covered with foliage and a short entrance gate.

Building small houses was not only for lack of height, it meant fewer building materials were required, which was convenient as domestic animals large enough to pull wagons were scarce and proper roads were limited. Smaller houses were easier to heat and cool than larger ones due to climatic conditions. Firewood was insufficient in the region and the inhabitants had serious problems in warming their homes. They made very small windows to prevent the cold weather from entering the homes. The tiny windows also allowed the day light into the homes.

Inhabitants of Makhunik did not drink tea until 50 years ago, hunt and eat meat because of considering them as guilt. There are also no TVs anywhere, as the villagers believe that they are from the Satan.

The residents of the village mostly depend on pasturing their livestock and also agriculture. Some of them work in a mine near the village. Most of their agricultural products include wheat, garlic, turnip, beetroot, carrot, tomato, onion and saffron.

They speak in Persian with the special accent of the area. Nobody smokes in this village. People of Makhunik consider smoking as taboo and dangerous for the community.

About a hundred years ago people found out about the existence of this village, so that the connection was made and vehicles opened their way to the village. In the past, the lack of animals such as donkeys, cows, and horses in the area did not allow people to travel far to bring materials for building as well as foods. The village now has water, electricity, a health house, a primary school, a bathroom and several shops including grocery stores, butchers and bakers.

The inhabitants are now of average height and children have become taller as life standards improved in the region from the mid-20th century when construction of roads and growing numbers of vehicles have lessened their isolation. They have abandoned their ancient homes and moved into brick houses. The younger people go to nearby cities for work and women do some carpet weaving.

Important parts of Makhunik to visit are Sang Siah (Petroglyph of Makhunik), tower and castle building, Gol Anjir tower, astray house, Nader morde (Nader is dead).

A mummified body measuring 25cm was discovered in 2005. Experts said the mummy belonged to a baby who died about 400 years ago. The mummy showed that previous generations of Makhunik residents were shorter than the average human being.

The best time to visit Makhunik is spring. Summer is quite hot and winter is cold, so they are not good time to visit the village at all.

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Japanese companies operating in Iran have continued their activities despite the withdrawal of many European companies, added the envoy.

Referring to the US failure to comply with JCPOA, he said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has always fulfilled its commitments under the 2015 international deal.

Elsewhere, he said that South Khorasan province enjoys many potential and the investment of Japanese companies in the region requires more time, adding, “Japan will certainly review the requests made by Iran in different sectors.”

For his part, the Iranian official also described the capabilities of the province, especially in the economic sector, saying that South Khorasan embraces Japan’s investment in mineral industries. He expressed readiness to further enhance bilateral cooperation in this sector.

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