Sanctions removal may badly affect Iran-UAE trade

/By AzerNews/


By Sara Rajabova

Lifting of international sanctions on Iran believed to considerably lower the country's trade volume with the United Arab Emirates.

Masoud Daneshmand, the head of Iran-UAE Chamber of Commerce said the trade turnover between Iran and the UAE will decrease if sanctions against Tehran are lifted.

Daneshmand added that considering the fact that the UAE plays an intermediate role in Iran’s trade, the trade volume decline will be inevitable following all sanctions’ removal.

The UAE was Tehran’s second biggest trade partner in the last fiscal year after China.

Iran’s Customs Administration has not published yet a detailed annual report of the Islamic Republic’s trade. However, the latest monthly report indicates that the UAE exported $11.216 billion worth of goods to Tehran during the first eleven months of the last fiscal year (March 21, 2014-Feb 20). The country also imported $3.5 billion worth of goods from Iran in the mentioned period.

Iran now has to export the main part of its goods to third countries through intermediate parties such as the UAE, Daneshmand said, adding it is the same for imports.

Iran and the world powers are scheduled to reach a comprehensive deal on the case by July 1.

The deal would limit Iran's nuclear activities in order to ensure their peacefulness, and in return it would remove all international sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s economy.

Daneshmand stressed that once the sanctions are lifted, these additional costs will be removed and Tehran will launch direct trade with its foreign partners, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.

Iran's non-oil trade turnover (including condensates) surpassed $102.221 billion during the last Iranian fiscal year (ended on March 21). The country’s non-oil exports stood at $49.744 billion during the period, meanwhile the value of imports reached $52.477 billion.

However, Hussein Asrar Haghighi, the vice-executive president of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai, earlier said if talks yield positive results it would give a boost to trade ties between the UAE and Iran.

He said the trade figures would double and business relations would be strengthened, if sanctions are lifted.

Though the political relations of the UAE with Iran have been limited after the imposition of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic, the two countries continue to enjoy close economic cooperation.

Iran is a significant trading partner with the UAE. The trade volume between Iran and Dubai alone is estimated to stand at least 10 billion dollars per year, mostly imports to the Emirate. Tens of thousands of Iranians live and work in Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE, many of them involved in the multi-billion-dollar re-export trade to Iran.