Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.18/ Trend R.Zamanov
Syria and Iraq were the main destination markets for Iran's technical and engineering services exports, Sohrab Salimi, an official with the Trade Promotion Organisation of Iran said on Wednesday.
"The value of Iran's technical and engineering services exports stood at $1.4 billion in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year which started March 21," the ILNA News Agency quoted Salimi as saying.
"Energy, roads and building sectors accounted for $778 million and $551 million of the mentioned amount," he added.
Salimi went on to note that 21 Iranian firms signed 26 contracts in the same period which is 120 per cent more than the same time in the previous year.
Former minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade Minister, Mehdi Ghazanfari, said in June that the country's technical and engineering exports are predicted to exceed $10 billion in the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21, IRNA reported.
"This will be the minimum volume of technical and engineering exports and the country's capacity will be much more," he noted.
He emphasised the role of free trade zones in increasing technical-engineering exports.
Head of the Association of Iranian Exporters of Technical and Engineering Services, Mohammad Reza Ansari, said in February that over 14,000 Iranians are working in foreign countries.
U.S.-generated sanctions have made it very hard for the private sector to export technical and engineering services, ISNA quoted Ansari as saying.
Ansari had previously said that Iranian companies have the potential to annually carry out the projects worth up to $20 billion in different countries.
Over 120 Iranian companies implemented several development plans in 60 countries last year.
Iran's non-oil trade valued at $11.7 billion in the Iranian months of Farvardin and Ordibehesht (March 21-May 21), Mehr News Agency referred to a report released by the Iranian Customs Administration.
Some 13.732 million tons of non-oil products worth $6.137 billion, were exported in the two past Iranian months showing a 47.8 per cent rise in weight and 9.1 per cent drop in worth compared to the same period in the last year.