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Iran urges Turkey to revoke tariffs on imports of petrochemicals(Exclusive)

Business Materials 18 April 2018 12:45 (UTC +04:00)

Tehran, Iran, April 18

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:

Iran is in talks with Turkish officials to eliminate import tariffs on petrochemical products from the Islamic Republic, an Iranian trade official told Trend.

Reza Kami, the co-chair of Iran-Turkey Joint Chamber of Commerce, has said that Turkey has imposed a 6.5 percent tariff on imports of petrochemical products from Iran.

"However, Turkey has refrained from levying the same tariffs on countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Therefore, we are in talks with Turkish officials to abolish the tariffs on imports of Iranian petrochemical products," he said.

Speaking about the two countries’ plan to hit $30 billion in bilateral trade, he said that the economic structure of the two countries makes it possible to fulfill the plan.

Saying that energy sector accounts for 80 percent of total trade turnover between Iran and Turkey, he added that the volume of trade between the two countries began to grow since the year 2000.

According to the official, the trade between the two countries grew by 22 percent over the last year to stand at $11 billion in 2017.

National currency swap

In a recent development, Iranian sources reported that the two countries have opened their first letter of credit for business transactions in their national currencies as the two countries move to ditch the US dollar and the euro in bilateral trade.

The first foreign exchange swap in the Iranian rial and Turkish lira came over the past week after months of anticipation, which followed an agreement signed last year to use local currencies in trade.

The Central Bank of Iran has said that its agenda was to seal other deals for forex swap in local currencies with the countries which have major transactions with Iran.

The aim is to facilitate trade with neighboring countries, channel forex operations of individual and legal persons via the banking system, make use of international payment instruments and reduce risks in foreign exchange operations.

Iran’s petrochemical output

Iranian petrochemical plants produced 49 million tons of petrochemical products during the first 11 months of the last Iranian fiscal year (March 20, 2017-Feb. 20), indicating an increase of 106 percent year on year.

The volume of the petrochemical exports in the mentioned period reached 20 million tons, 108 percent more compared to the same period of the preceding year. The value of Iran’s petrochemical exports was $10.4 billion.

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