TEHRAN – Lawmaker and member of the parliament’s Planning and Budget Committee Mohsen Zanganeh on Wednesday said that Iran’s trade exchanges with neighboring states and East Asian countries enjoy the capacity to increase to 100 billion dollars.
Zanganeh said that the recent visits by various heads of states to Tehran indicate the economic and political diplomacy of the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi.
Since the beginning of the Raisi administration, there have been several meetings between Iranian authorities and high-ranking officials of different countries around the world, which is a sign that the administration is heading towards expansion of ties with neighboring, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations that is a turning point in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Zanganeh mentioned.
The lawmaker also urged various ministries of the administration such as the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts to pave the ground for enhancing necessary infrastructure for utilization of capacities for cooperating with neighboring, regional, Asian and Latin American states.
On the impact of holding meetings among Iranian and other heads of states, the member of parliament argued that the talks can provide Iran with the opportunity to nullify illegal sanctions imposed by the United States.
The Islamic Republic is mostly exporting its commodities to neighboring states or China and Russia, while European countries have only 4 to 5 percent share in Iran’s foreign trade exchanges; thus, focusing on regional and Eastern countries concerning trade development can pave the way for doubling the amount of export to these states, he noted.
Iran has succeeded in reaching important progress in interaction with East Asian countries particularly China, which is also one of the biggest world powers, he said, adding that Iran has also enhanced its relationship with Russia; so, such an approach can provide Iran with the opportunity to boost its exports to these countries.
He went on to say that along with enjoying the capacity of international entities such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the administration of President Raisi can focus on the economic and trade cooperation with neighboring and East Asian states in a bid to expand its annual trade exchanges worth 53 billion dollars to reach 100 billion dollars per annum.