The president of the Iran-Africa Joint Chamber of Commerce has called for strategic planning to enhance Iran's trade relations with the continent, which currently stands at approximately $1.3 billion.
The current trade volume, Masoud Berahman told a conference in the city of Zanjan on Sunday, is significantly lower than the potential trade opportunities between Iran and Africa.
Africa boasts a staggering $1.5 trillion in trade turnover, which is split quite evenly between imports and exports, Berahman said at the conference featuring trade opportunities in Africa.
He pointed to the continent's rich natural resources, environmental assets, and agricultural potential, which remain largely untapped by Iranian traders.
He stressed that Iran must work to carve out a larger share in the African market.
Alireza Peimanpak, Iran’s deputy minister of agriculture and the former head of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), had said last year that the volume of trade between Iran and Africa was expected to reach at least $3 billion by the end of the Iranian fiscal year to March 2025.