BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
The Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province has great potential, Chairman of the export commission of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Jamshid Nafar said, Trend reports referring to Tasnim News Agency.
Despite the great potential, this zone does not have the necessary infrastructure to achieve its goals, the chairman said.
The head of the commission noted that for 40 years, Iran's economic structure has been built on imports rather than exports.
In other words, Iran's economic structure was not conducive to the emergence of large companies and mega-projects, Nafar said. The private sector has very little share in the structure due to the abundance of wrong institutions and a large number of state-owned companies, the chairman said adding that this small share hindered design of mega projects.
The Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has started a study of the potential of the trade with neighboring countries after the US imposed sanctions on Iran, the chairman said.
As a result of the study, it became clear that 13 countries bordering Iran have a trade potential of $3.1 trillion, Nafar said. However, at best, Iran's oil and non-oil exports reach $40 billion now, he added.
The chairman said Iran's current exports will increase by 1.5 times if Iran's share in the trade of surrounding countries reaches 2%.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018 and expanded the list of sanctions in several stages.