Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
The trade turnover between Iran and the UAE will decrease if the sanctions against Tehran are lifted, Masoud Daneshmand, head of Iran-UAE Chamber of Commerce said.
Considering the fact that the UAE plays an intermediate role in Iran's trade, the trade volume decline would be inevitable following the sanctions' removal, Daneshmand added.
"The Islamic Republic now has to export main part of its goods to third countries through intermediate parties such as UAE," Daneshmand said, adding it is the same for imports.
Once the sanctions are lifted, these additional costs will be removed and Tehran will launch direct trade with its foreign partners, he said, Iran's ISNA news agency reported April 6.
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.
The UAE was Tehran's second biggest trade partner in 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.
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