TEHRAN – Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Alireza Moghadasi has said that the value of Iran’s trade with neighboring countries in the first 9 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March-December 2021) increased by 42 percent compared to the same period last year.
Moghadasi put the volume of the country’s trade exchanges with its 15 neighbors during the first nine months of 1400 (started on March 21, 2021) at over 75 million tons and its value at more than $36.8 billion.
He said it shows an 18-percent rise in volume and 42-percent increase in value compared to the said period last year.
Iraq was Iran’s top export destination by importing $6.8 billion worth of commodities from the Islamic Republic, Moghadasi said, noting that after Iraq, the main export destinations for Iranian products and goods were Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The highest volume of Iran’s imports from neighboring countries, meanwhile, was made from the UAE with $11.4 billion, followed by Turkey, Russia, Iraq, and Oman, he said.
The official noted that one of the key policies of President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, which took office in August, is development of political and economic ties with neighboring countries.
He said in line with this policy, the IRICA has various programs on its agenda to facilitate exports and imports and speed up transit of goods from the country’s borders.