BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran's product export to Afghanistan is stable at the moment, Chairman of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce Hossein Salimi said, Trend reports citing Fars news agency.
According to Salimi, following the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, a number of restrictions were imposed by Afghanistan. At present, these restrictions have been lifted.
Salimi added that at present, visas are being issued to drivers of Iranian trucks transporting Iranian products to Afghanistan and there are no problems.
The official said that Afghanistan is an important country for the development of Iran's exports.
Salimi said that at the same time, Afghanistan is important as a transit country for the development of trade relations between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union.
"The exported products from Iran to Afghanistan are mainly food products. The value of trade turnover between the two countries is about $3 billion a year,” he said.
The Iran exported $125 million worth of products to Afghanistan in the first Iranian month (March 20-April 19, 2020). The Afghanistan's share in Iran's exports was 7.6 percent and exports decreased by 45.9 percent compared to the same month last Iranian year.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 133,500 people have been infected 7,359 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 104,000 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.