Tehran, Iran, November 12
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Phil Hogan, European Union commissioner for agriculture and rural development, traveled to Tehran on Saturday where he predicted a great future trade between Iran and the EU in food and agriculture sectors.
Hogan, leading a 70-member delegation from 40 European companies to Tehran, made the remarks addressing the Iran-EU Agri-Food Business Forum at the place of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA).
According to Hogan, food trade between Iran and the European Union leaped by 94 percent since the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was signed in July 2015.
An early 2017 EU agri-food trade value report said that 28 members of the union had exported worth 728 million euros of products to Iran in the year to the report release. It added in the meantime Iran had exported worth 467 million euros of such products to the EU, putting the trade balance at 261 in favor of the union.
Considering these number under the fact that they come with a 94 percent improvement as Hogan has said, it is clear that under sanctions Iran’s agri-food trade with the EU has been scanty and still remains about the same.
“To really improve agri-food trade with Europe we need to have better access to international banking services which are currently virtually lacking,” Jamal Dehqani, an expert told Trend November 12.
Hogan himself had admitted while in Tehran that banking ties between Iran and the EU are not good and will take some time to develop to a proper state.
Although the JCPOA lifted many obstacles in the way of Iran’s banking reconnection to the world, an innate fear of US penalties continues to haunt big international banks and they have not shown enough will to start creating ties with Iran.
Iran enjoys a great potential in the agricultural sector thanks to its diverse climate. However, besides the fact that the country’s businessmen need access to international banking to settle their trades with foreign partners, the agricultural infrastructure is also in dire need of improvement, bearing on its forehead the scars of long years of sanctions. Here again, banking ties are needed in order for the country to be able to fund developmental projects in the agricultural and food sectors.