Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 13
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Fulfilling the export goals of Iran’s 6th National Development program (a 5-year program launched in 2016) is seemingly impossible, Mohammad Reza Modudi, head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), told Tasnim News Agency, Trend reports.
Modudi stated that, even without the sanctions and other current problems, fulfilling the export goals of the 6th program would still prove to be an impossible feat, noting that the set goal for the current program is a 21.7 percent increase in exports. The reason, he believes, is in the “problems with infrastructure” which do not allow for such export rates.
According to Modudi, the necessary investments in export infrastructure and export potential have not been made. The number of Iranian products currently exported for more than $10 million, for example, is only 350. This shows that Iran's export basket is limited.
"However, the number of products in Iran's export basket should be more than one thousand," he said.
Modudi added that Iran's neighbors have imports exceeding $1 trillion, yet the share of imports from Iran stands at just $22-23 billion.
"This is due to Iran's export basket being small. The products they demand are not in the Iranian export basket," he said.
If Iran wishes to export $10 billions' worth, then it should, according to Modudi, make a minimum of $30-40 billions’ worth of domestic investments.
Such amounts of investments would depend on Iran's revenue and how much faith the country’s leadership has in large-scale export projects.