TEHRAN, Iran, August 29. Iran is seeking to increase trade with Syria, said the Chairman of Iran- Syria Joint Chamber of Commerce Keyvan Kashefi, Trend reports citing ILNA.
"The recent statistics show that Iran-Syria trade volume reached $218 million in the last Iranian year (started March 21,2021)," he said, adding that 90 percent of the trade belonged to Iran's export and 10 percent were imports from Syria.
Iran partly exports its products to Syria (indirectly via Iraq), he noted, indicating that 8 percent of Iran's export to Iraq is then re-exported to Syria.
"Solving transportation issues and establishing direct transit to Syria would improve trade," he stressed, adding that the implementation of the free trade agreement between the two countries could be a gateway for Iran to export its commodities to over twenty Arab countries that have free trade agreements with Syria.
According to the official, Iran and Syria trade in the last Iranian year has increased by 100 percent, compared to the previous year, however, the trade in the first five months of the current year (started March 21,2022) was lower than expected.