Tehran, Tashkent rise trade exchanges

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Iran and Uzbekistan have boosted their trade exchanges in 2014 compared with the previous years.

Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh, Iran’s Minister of Industries, Mines, and Trade said trade exchanges between the two countries boomed in 2014 compared with last years and the current ceiling of cooperation is around $250 million, IRNA news agency reported.

A delegation from Uzbekistan led by Elyor Ganiev, Minister of Economic Relations, Investments and Trade visited Iran to discuss ways of implementing a MoU to develop railway transportation between Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Oman.

The transport corridor, which will give the Central Asian countries an access to the markets of the Gulf, as well as to differentiate the oil products market in the Central Asia, was initiated by the Uzbek President Islam Karimov. In August 2014, the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Oman inked an understanding memorandum for the agreement on creation of the Central Asia-Gulf transport corridor to enter into the force. The agreement and the memorandum have been ratified by all the four countries included in this project.

Nematzadeh, after a meeting with Uzbek delegation said on February 15 that Iran's minister of Industries and Uzbekistan's minister of Economic Relations met as the chairpersons of the two countries joint commissions and the commission is to have meetings in Tashkent in May 2015.

He expressed hope that the bilateral trade exchanges will grow in 2015.

Uzbekistan is also willing to increase flights between Tehran and Tashkent to two flights a week which is going to be discussed, said Uzbek minister, adding Uzbekistan is one of the countries, which provides Iran with cotton and grain.

Iran can export automobiles, household appliances, electrical equipment, construction materials and petrochemicals to Uzbekistan, according to Nematzadeh.

Iran and Uzbekistan have signed agreements to cooperate in various fields including, agriculture, transport, oil and gas production, construction, pharmaceuticals and banking. The two nations have also worked on overland links and other joint ventures.

Uzbekistan exports many commodities to Iran including cotton, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, fertilizers and chemical fibers. Iran exports construction materials, detergents, foods, tea and fruits to Uzbekistan.