Iran's trade with Saudi Arabia became "zero"
The Director General of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)'s Office of Arabian and African Countries Farzad Piltan announced that Iran's trade with Saudi Arabia has reached "zero" in the last six months.
Speaking to ILNA news agency, the Iranian official said that $8.16 of Iran total export was exported to 15 neighboring countries in the six months of the current Iranian calendar year beginning March 20, 2020.
“Among this group of countries, Iraq and the UAE are ranked first and second, and Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar are ranked eighth to tenth after Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, and Azerbaijan.”
He continued “In this list, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are ranked 14th and 15th, after Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan”, adding that Iran's exports to Bahrain were $ 3 million and exports to Saudi Arabia were zero during this period.
“Also, in the field of imports, 16.78 billion dollars in the amount of 16 million and 524 thousand tons of goods have been imported into the country during this period, he said.
Farzad Piltan stressed “In addition to unilateral US sanctions, tensions in political relations with some of these countries, such as Saudi Arabia, and unrest in countries such as Iraq and Yemen, the current outbreak of coronavirus, and the several-month suspension of trade with neighboring countries have negatively affected our trade relations."
Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining, and Trade Saeed Zarandi also said Iran is currently focusing on exports to 15 neighboring countries.
The official stated that in order to focus on export promotion to 15 neighboring countries, especially non-oil exports, Iran has already begun briefings with the border provinces.
"For many years, the Iranian economy is familiar with the sanctions, but despite this, sanctions last year created a strong impetus in the country's economy, especially in the industry, which has now fallen sharply”, Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade made the remark.
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