President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam Hossein Shafei said on Monday that Iranian businesspeople are willing to further work with their Uzbek partners.
Shafei made the remarks during an Iran-Uzbekistan Joint Business Forum which was also participated by Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov and a large number of economic activists from both Iran and Uzbekistan.
Referring to Iran’s high potentials in different areas, Shafei said that Iran provides the shortest and fastest transit route between Russia and the Middle East and North Africa while it is also considered as the shortest route between Central Asia and Europe.
He noted that Iran and Uzbekistan can cooperate in nanotechnology and biotechnology, underlining the need for removing banking obstacles, reducing transportation costs and increasing wagons active in rail connection between the two countries.
The Uzbek deputy prime minister also addressed the business forum and said that the negotiations and agreements made during his visit to Iran are promising.
Umurzakov said that Iran is a key trade partner of Uzbekistan, however, regretting that the current $430 million annual trade between the two countries is not satisfactory.
He noted that a preferential trade agreement between Iran and Uzbekistan is scheduled to be finalized in the near future, urging the need to address transportation problems so as to further boost bilateral trade.
Underlining that Iran and Uzbekistan can cooperate on pharmaceuticals and agriculture, Umurzakov also called on the Iranian construction companies to cooperate with their Uzbek counterparts.
Iranian Vice-President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezaei, who was also present at the event, said that the negotiations made between the two sides and the agreements made during the Uzbek delegation’s stay in Tehran are indicative of the beginning of a new era in bilateral relations between Iran and Uzbekistan.
Rezaei expressed hope that the agreements will become implemented in the near future.