State officials and private sector representatives from Iran and China reviewed the potentials for further cooperation between the two countries.
Iran-China business forum convened in the Chinese capital on the eve of a visit to Beijing by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi.
President Raeisi left Iran for China on Monday for an official visit where 20 cooperation documents were signed between the two countries.
Addressing the business forum, a vice-chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) referred to a last year $15.8 billion trade between Iran and China and said that the figure should be expanded using both the existing and untapped potentials.
He also proposed that the two countries should plan for a free trade scheme.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari was another speaker of the event who said that China has imported as much as $12 billion worth of commodities from Iran with another $12 billion worth of goods exporting to the country which is indicative of a trade balance between the two nations.
He said that China’s One Belt One Road initiative can lead to further cooperation between Iran and China in different transportation, energy, industry, and mining areas, adding that Iran wants China’s further investment in different Iranian developmental projects.
Underlining the significance of a strategic 25-year cooperation deal with China, Safari said that Iran can turn into an economic and trade hub of the region and develop more increased exchanges with China.
Urge for more participation of private sector
In the meantime, Chairman of Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Majid-Reza Hariri said that the resolve on both governments to further promote economic cooperation is a chance that has to be seized by the private sectors of both Iran and China.
Noting that giant state companies account for 90% of the trade relations between Iran and China, Hariri said that more contribution of private sector and SMEs is needed to give a boost to bilateral ties.