Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran has lost its share of market in the neighboring countries, Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines Chairman Gholam-Hossein Shafei said.
Shafei added there is no specific plan for boosting non-oil exports and the country has lost its share of market in the neighboring countries, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on November 22.
A possible solution might be the expansion of non-oil exports via free economic zones, he said.
Iranian export companies face certain challenges, like lack of enough support by Iranian banks, shortage of transport facilities and absence of Iranian trade centers in many export target countries.
Iranian exporters are still fighting back against the lack of competitiveness factors like export tariffs, added value tax and a lack of WTO membership.
Government figures show a total of $23 billion of non oil exports since March; a 20 percent increase compared to the same period in 2013.
Iran also exports about $1 billion worth of technical and engineering services annually but experts believe that the country has twenty times more capacity in the mentioned sector.
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