Page 24 - IRANRptOct20

5.0​ External Sector & Trade
5.1​ Balance of payments and current account
Iran’s foreign trade with CIS hit $3.3bn in 2019 with exports up by billion dollars
Iran targets big trade boost with neighbours
Iran's foreign trade with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 2019 hit $3.3bn, with a surplus of $205.2mn in favour of the Islamic Republic, according to the Iranian customs administration.
Seyed Ruhollah Latifi, spokesman for the administration, said that in 2019 Iran exported $1.8bn, or 4.8mn tonnes, of goods to CIS countries, with the value of exports rising by more than one billion dollars year on year.
Russia ($457mn), Azerbaijan ($429mn) and Armenia ($231mn) ranked among major export destinations for Iran.
The CIS consists of former Soviet states Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Since October last year, Iran and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have operated a two-year temporary preferential trade agreement (PTA). The EEU’s members are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Iranian Deputy Industry Minister Hossein Modares Khiabani has said his ministry wants to quickly raise the annual value of exports to Iran’s 15 neighbours to $50bn, Tasnim news agency reported.
Crucial to that strategy will be taking advantage of a preferential trade agreement that came into effect in November between Iran and member states of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)—namely Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
“Our goal is to be able to meet five percent of our neighbouring countries’ needs, which would amount to more than $50 billion a year considering the total imports of all the 15 countries which is at least $1 trillion annually,” Modares Khiabani was reported as saying.
“Necessary planning and investigations have been made for achieving this target,” he added. Iran shares a border with the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Based on data published by Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), bilateral trade with these countries stood at more than $36.5bn in the last Iranian calendar year, representing around 41% of the country’s total non-oil trade.
Iran plans to launch 15 mega export projects to identify more target markets, according to TPO’s former acting head, Mohammadreza Modoudi.
24​ IRAN Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com