Participants of an online webinar on potentials for cooperation between Iran and Brazil underlined that Iran needs to create balance in its trade with the Latin American country.
Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Deputy for International Affairs Mohammad Reza Karbasi, Iranian Ambassador to Brazil Hossein Gharibi, Chairman of Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce Fakhreddin Amerian and a number of economic activists were among the participants in the webinar.
Addressing the webinar, ICCIMA deputy Mohammad Reza Karbasi complained about Iran’s negative trade balance with Brazil and said that Iran has to diversify its exports basket to the country.
“We have to move towards balance in bilateral trade with Brazil,” Karbasi said, urging the need for signing preferential and free trade agreements between the two countries.
He said that Brazil has a market of 400 million people in its surrounding region, and Iran has the same capacity in the Middle East.
Also speaking during the webinar, Iran’s Ambassador to Brazil Hossein Gharibi said that the volume of direct and indirect trade between Iran and Brazil stood at $4 billion in 2019.
He said that Iran has to take two actions to create balance in trade with Brazil – maintenance of the current exports and diversification of the export items.
The ambassador however noted that Iran needs to remove the banking obstacles in order to be able to promote relations with Brazil.
Gharibi said that Iran and Brazil have reached an agreement to launch a container shipping line between the two countries which he said will require Brazil to guarantee providing the ships with the needed fuel at the country’s ports.
Noting that the launch of a Joint Chamber of Commerce in Sao Paulo will significantly help business contracts between Iranian and Brazilian traders, he said that launching a flight between Tehran and Sao Paulo can help relations between Iran and the entire region.
The Chairman of Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce Fakhreddin Amerian, who was also present at the webinar, said that essential goods account for most of Iran’s imports from Brazil.
He urged the Iranian officials to make use of barter trade in transactions with Brazil, stressing that “we have to rise exports [to Brazil] by at least $1 billion.”