'NAM should set up economic blocs'

The member states of the Non-Aligned Movement should establish economic blocs to boost multilateral trade, deputy head of the Iranian Trade Promotion Organization (TPOI) Kiyumars Fathollah Kermanshahi stated.

Kiyumars Fathollah Kermanshahi told the Mehr news agency that the trade turnover between Iran and other NAM members can be increased by at least 50 percent within a period of five years.

Trade between Iran and other NAM members amounted to around $43 billion in the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 19, accounting for almost $40 percent of Iran's total $105 billion in non-oil trade, the ISNA news agency cited Customs Administration's data.

Iran exported $19.7 billion non-oil goods to NAM member states, while imported goods worth $24.1 billion last year.

Iraq, the UAE, India, and Afghanistan were the main importers of Iranian goods. The UAE, India, Malaysia, and Oman were the major exporters to Iran.

It should be stressed that China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Argentina, the Netherlands, Serbia, and Ukraine are among the NAM observer members which also have trade ties with Iran.

NAM is the second largest international organization after the United Nations, consisting of 120 countries, with an additional 21 observer states.

The 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement is currently underway in Tehran.


/Trend/