President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam Hossein Shafei said on Tuesday that the Iranian private sector is making efforts to employ different mechanisms to expand trade relations with Japan.
Speaking with Yuri Konno, a special adviser to the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at ICCIMA headquarters in Tehran, Shafei blamed the US sanctions on Tehran for shrinking trade relations between Iran and Japan over the past few years.
Referring to long years of trade relations between Iran and Japan, the Iran Chamber of Commerce president said that the two countries have had the least trade disputes which is indicative of their healthy trade relations.
Shafei said that Japan’s place in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Iran’s place in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) paves the way for more interaction of the two countries in regional affairs.
He believed that Iran and Japan can have cooperation in a wide range of areas including, auto making, electric devices, ship building, mining, agriculture and so on.
Referring to setting up an Iran-Japan Joint Committee on Commerce, Shafei said that this committee will soon be upgraded to become a joint chamber of commerce.
The Japanese side, for her part, said that the duty of the chambers of commerce is to boost trade cooperation between countries which she believed can guarantee peace and stability.
Yuri expressed hope that Iran and Japan will witness more increased cooperation.