President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) has urged the need for forming a joint working group with Belarus for identifying and removing trade obstacles.
Gholam Hossein Shafei, who was addressing an Iran-Belarus business forum in Tehran, said that as Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union are finalizing a free trade agreement, there is a huge possibility for further expansion of trade ties between Iran and Belarus.
The forum was participated by Iranian Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko who led a trade delegation from the country.
Noting that the Iran Chamber of Commerce is doing its best to prepare the ground for more enhanced connections with Belarusian businesspeople, Shafei said that as long as the traders are not provided with easy access to target countries, the volume of trade will not increase.
He called for facilitating banking transactions and cooperation in different areas, including technical and engineering services and joint production of diary and other products.
Shafei also underlined the need for further cooperation between Tehran and Minsk in the development of a strategically important International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC) which he said would make it possible for Belarus to export its commodities to Persian Gulf states, India and East Asia.
He said that signing a preferential trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Union has opened a new chapter in expansion of Iran’s trade with the bloc, particularly with Belarus. The Iran Chamber of Commerce president also said that finalizing a free trade agreement with the five-member union in the near future will remove a major part of obstacles on the way of bilateral trade promotion.
He proposed that a joint working group be formed between Iran and Belarus for identifying economic-commercial problems and feasibility study of joint trade projects.