TEHRAN –Heads of Iran’s chambers of commerce and some of the country’s exporters held a meeting with the country’s Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Seyyed Reza Fatemi Amin on Saturday to discuss major issues in the way of export development, IRIB reported.

The meeting was also attended by the Head of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Peyman Pak and Head of Iran Export Confederation Mohammad Lahouti.

Speaking in the meeting, Peyman Pak mentioned the great capacities of the neighboring countries for export and said: “Of the $2.238 trillion import capacity of the neighboring countries, Iran’s share is very low. We hope to increase exports by $35 billion; however, there is the potential to boost the country’s exports to neighboring countries, especially India and China to $100 billion.”

He noted that TPO plans to have close communication with the country’s major exporters in order to realize the Industry Ministry’s goals set for this area.

“TPO has it on the agenda to coordinate the country’s trade and foreign exchange policies to increase Iran’s exports to $70 billion over the next four years,” Peyman Pak stressed.

The official noted that his organization has prioritized the country’s trade partners and will mainly focus on the neighboring countries as well as China and India to pursue its export goals.

Trade facilitation, setting preferential tariffs, establishment of green customs routes, establishing financial mechanisms, creating distribution and marketing networks, and forming bilateral monetary channels are among the major programs considered for trade development, he stressed.

“Strengthening the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran is also on the agenda and we will use the capacity of this fund in the field of bilateral LC opening,” he added.

Further in the meeting, Lahouti underlined the need for amending the country’s export and trade regulations and noted that some unnecessary regulations are currently impeding the country’s non-oil exports and should be eliminated in order for the country’s export capacities to be fully realized.

“Reviewing the laws of the last three years is another important issue that should be on the agenda,” Lahouti said.

EF/MA