Chairman of Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Majid Reza Hariri said that Iran has lost its place as China’s leading trade partner in the Middle East under the effect of sanctions over the past 10 years.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Iran Chamber newsroom, Hariri said that Iran is now the seventh trade partner of China in the region while Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Turkey are the first six Middle Eastern trade partners of China above Iran.
The Chinese Communist Party, as well as the country’s Foreign Ministry and President Xi himself have repeatedly announced that they do not recognize the US unilateral sanctions against Iran, Hariri said, however noting that the Chinese businesses do not abide by the government’s political decisions and seek their own interests.
He said that the Chinese international companies either don’t engage in deals with Iran or at least don’t easily do it.
They are afraid that the consequences or sanctions of Iran would cause trouble for them, Hariri added.
He said that China has been Iran’s first trade partner over the past one decade so that today China’s share of Iran’s foreign trade is more than 26%.
Hariri noted that more than 90% of Iran’s trade with the UAE – Iran’s second largest trade partner – are actually being done indirectly with China which indicates that trade with china actually accounts for nearly 45% of Iran’s foreign trade.
“If an accord is brokered in Vienna today, our relations with China will more than double in 2022.”