Chairman of Iran-Syria Joint Chamber of Commerce Keyvan Kashefi on Monday called for reopening Iran transit road to Syria with cooperation of the Iraqi government and the Iranian Ministry of Road and Urban Development.
Kashefi who was speaking in a live televised speech, made the remarks when asked about Turkey’s more strong presence in the Syrian market.
The Iranian economic activists trade with Syria by sending goods from Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port to the Syrian Port of Latakia which takes them more than two months, he said, adding that this time is less than 24 hours for Turkish businesspersons whose country has a joint border with Syria.
Kashefi noted that reopening Iran transit road to Syria via Iraqi soil will cut the delivery time of Iranian products to Syria to 48 hours.
When asked to comment about Syria’s ban on imports of Iranian cars, he said that this ban is not limited to Iran. Kashefi said that due to economic pressure of sanctions, the Syrian government has been forced to adopt contraction sanctions and has fully banned the imports of automobile and auto spare parts to the country.
He said that Iran is the only country which has a zero customs tariff with Syria, however noting that it has not been implemented yet due to some problems.
“We had nearly $120 million of exports to Syria in the first seven months of the [Iranian calendar] year,” Kashefi said, expecting the figure to reach $220 million by yearend.
He also said that Iran-Syria trade for 2022 is projected at 500 to 700 million dollars.