Chambers of commerce of Kerman Province of Iran and Budapest signed a MoU on cooperation in the presence of Mr. Salahvarzi and Haszonits.

During the ceremony, Salahvarzi pointed to the long political, cultural and economic ties of Iran and Hungary and said that although due to the sanctions these relations have become colorless, he hopes with the diplomatic efforts once again political, cultural and especially economic relations of Iran and Hungary would improve.

He reiterated that ICCIMA and private sector does its efforts to materialize setting target for economic relations of the two countries during the third joint economic commission, adding that he hopes in the upcoming months, along with exchange of trade delegations and in collaboration with Budapest Chamber of Commerce, both sides would find ways for resolving banking exchanges in line with broadening bilateral trade. He added that he is sure that efforts of Embassy of Hungary in Tehran would be effective in this regard.

Salahvarzi went on to say that Kerman Province accounts for some 4% of national GDP and there are good capacities in this province in the fields of agriculture, mining, energy production especially clean energies.

Then Hungarian Ambassador Haszonits, for his part, emphasized efforts for increasing the level of trade cooperation between the two states, adding that although industry, agriculture and clean energies are good fields for broadening economic cooperation between Iran and Hungary, there are some restrictions in this regard.

He noted that restrictions are not limited only to banking relation, adding that restrictions related to the FATF are also very effective, stressing that despite all these restrictions, now it is good opportunity for talks to find solutions for this issue.

Then Salahvarzi emphasized that economic activists in the private sector are trying to find ways for sanctions and the FATF in order to remain in the international production value chain, noting that despite these problems, during the years experiences and different solutions for facing these conditions have been tested. He said that Iranian traders have used barter trade and using crypto currencies to overcome the problems.

He said that all talks should be based on this point that sanctions are not removed and both sides should find ways for boosting trade under the current sanctions condition.

Meanwhile in the ceremony, Head of Kerman Chamber of Commerce enumerated the number of exporting items of Kerman Province like pistachio, dates, rose, fruits and greenhouse products and said that Kerman has great potentials in the field of energy production especially solar energy production and clean energies that both sides can cooperate in this field.

The post Tehran, Budapest Urged to Find New Tools for Boosting Trade appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Deputy Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Mohammadreza Karbasi met with the Hungarian commercial attaché in Tehran on Monday to discuss ways of expanding trade ties between the two countries.

During the meeting, the two sides explored some of the potential areas for mutual cooperation and called for taking necessary measures for boosting the level of trade to the pre-sanction levels and even higher, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Speaking in the meeting, Karbasi noted that Iran-Hungary trade stood at $200 million in 2018, however, the figure fell to $35 million due to sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

“We must try to reach the volume of trade to the 2018 level and even more,” the official stressed.

He pointed out that Hungarian agricultural products make up a large share (about 25 percent) of the country’s exports, suggesting that the ICCIMA and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the embassies of the two countries, should organize webinars and face-to-face talks between the two countries’ traders in the field of agriculture to facilitate the trade in this area.

“Considering the export potentials of Iran and Hungary in the field of agriculture, it is possible to exchange a list of products and demanded goods in this field in order to expand collaborations in this sector,” Karbasi said.

He further called on the Hungarian embassy and especially the country’s commercial attaché in Tehran to take the necessary measures for facilitating the trade between the two countries and to boost the level of economic exchanges to the pre-sanction levels.

The Hungarian official for his part expressed interest in holding business webinars between the two sides and it was decided to hold two online webinars in the fields of agricultural and medical equipment in the near future.

Holding specialized B2B video conferences in the fields of agriculture and medical equipment, considering a preferential trade agreement between the two countries, bartering of goods and services and paving the way for the expansion of trade cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the two countries, were among the suggestions that the two sides made for boosting the level of trade between the two countries.

He then pointed to the sanctions against Iran and the pandemic, expressing hope that problems and sanctions would be resolved because Hungarian businessmen are keen to cooperate with their Iranian counterparts.

The Hungarian diplomat also pointed to the history of good cooperation between the two states, adding that before the pandemic, Hungary hosted over 3,000 Iranian students who have chosen the Hungarian universities through scholarship.

He added that despite restrictions because of the sanctions, Hungarian Embassy in Tehran supports issuing visas for Iranian tradesmen.

He expressed hope the trade level between Iran and Hungary would gradually grow and reach a figure that the two countries deserve it.

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