BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 12
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran exported $2.5 billion worth of non-oil products to Arab countries during the first five months of the current Iranian year (March 20-August 21, 2020), said Director General of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran’s (TPOI) Arabic-African Affairs Office Farzad Piltan, Trend reports citing the organization.
According to the Piltan, Iran exported products to Iraq, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Syria, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon and Bahrain, and did not export anything to Saudi Arabia and Yemen during the reporting period.
The director general added that Iran exported products worth $1.83 billion to Iraq, worth $310 million to the UAE and worth $110 million to Oman.
“At the same time, Iran exported products worth $58 million to Kuwait, worth $56 million to Syria and worth $45 million to Qatar,” he said.
Piltan emphasized that as a result of the spread of the coronavirus and the closure of borders with a number of neighboring countries, the value of exports to these countries decreased by about $3.5 billion compared to the same period last Iranian year.
Iran hopes that the reopening of borders will increase exports.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 397,800 people have been infected, and 22,913 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 342,500 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
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.
A number of countries have closed their borders with Iran due to the spread of the coronavirus in Iran. Later, in June, the borders began to open gradually.