Vice-President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Hossein Selahvarzi on Tuesday urged the need for introducing a preferential trade system between Iran and Poland.
During a meeting of Iranian and Polish trade delegations in Tehran, Selahvarzi said that introducing a preferential trade system as well as establishment of a special financial channel between the two countries are the prerequisites of expansion of trade relations between Tehran and Warsaw.
Referring to longstanding relations between the two Iranian and Polish nations, he regretted that bilateral trade has witnessed a significant decline since 2017 mainly due to the imposition of unilateral US sanctions on Tehran.
He referred to Poland’s capabilities in agriculture and agricultural machinery, rail transportation and locomotive production, and said that there are good capacities for cooperation between Iran and Poland in such areas.
“Sea transportation is also of high significance in Iran,” Selahvarzi said, noting that “given the existence of ports in northern and southern Iran, we are willing to make use of Poland’s experiences in this regard.”
He also touched upon Iran’s mining capacities, adding that Poland is an importer of organic chemicals which can be supplied by Iranian producers.
Selahvarzi said that negotiations are also underway between the two counties on oil and energy supply cooperation. He expressed hope that the talks in this regard will yield good results.
Vice-President of Polish Chamber of Commerce for Importers, Exporters and Cooperation Andrzej Pilat, who headed the Polish delegation, said for his part that Iran-Poland relations have been growing nonstop since 2001.
He however said that the relations between the two countries declined due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus and some other issues.
Noting that there are good potentials for further promotion of bilateral relations, he said that our biggest problem for cooperation is in the area of financial transactions.
The financial mechanism used four years ago is no longer applied by the two countries, he said, expressing hope that the visit to Tehran by the Polish delegation would lead to resuming this mechanism.
Face-to-face relations are the best way to push forward our goals, he noted.