Iran Expo 2024 to host 3,000 foreigners

Some 3,000 foreign traders and businessmen are expected to participate in the 6th International Export Potential Exhibition of the Islamic Republic of Iran, dubbed Iran Expo 2024, an official with the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) said.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on April 27 and run through May 1, 2024, the ICCIMA deputy head for commissions, assemblies, and council affairs stated in a meeting held with the participation of representatives of the joint chamber of commerce.

Noting that the first edition of the Iran Expo was held in 2013, Ali Chagharvand predicted that 3,000 foreign traders and merchants from various countries would partake in the latest edition of the exhibition.

This exhibition will cover seven major groups of commodities including food industries, agriculture and fisheries, handwoven carpets, handicrafts and tourism, medicine, medical equipment and chemical products, building industry, technical and engineering services, and also the petrochemical group.

Promoting trade and economic relations with other countries, booming production, propelling the business environment of the private sector to the international arena, and creating a new trade and economic discourse with various countries have been cited as the main aims of holding the exhibition.

The meeting was attended by the Chairman of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Majid Reza Hariri and Vice Chairman of the Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Roshanali Yekta.

 

Iran to improve transit infrastructure

The head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) has stressed the need to increase efforts for improving the country’s transit infrastructure in order to benefit from the recent developments in the region, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Speaking at a meeting of the Mashhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Transport Committee, Gholam Hossein Shafeie mentioned the competitiveness of the transit market in the region, saying, “Competitors are creating alternative routes by spending huge amounts of money to replace Iran in the transit market.”

Stating that Turkey has made several efforts to strengthen the Trans-Caspian Corridor for transiting goods between East and West, he added, “With the integration of the Trans-Caspian Corridor in the Silk Road Project, this corridor will be connected with the China-Central Asia-West Asia corridor that passes through Iran.”

Shafeie further referred to the recent changes in the world including the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying, “In this period, due to the change in the global transport routes, new opportunities have been provided for Iran and we should take full advantage of such opportunities.”

The Islamic Republic has been taking serious measures for the development of its railway network as well as its ports and shipping infrastructure in order to encourage more countries to join the project.

Using the capacities of the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC), Iran will be able not only to expand the volume of trade with Russia and the countries of the region, it can also gain a huge share of the mentioned countries’ annual transit.

Currently, Russia has proposed to take part in some railway projects in Iran in order to accelerate the development of the Islamic Republic’s railway network along the mentioned route.

The row between Europe and Russia over the Ukraine war, which resulted in harsh sanctions being imposed on the country made Russia look for new ways for distributing its goods across the world, especially in Asia and mainly through the INSTC.

According to official data, one of the major advantages of INSTC is that the cost of transporting goods through this corridor is cheaper by 30%. It also halves the time it takes to transport Indian goods to Russia via the Suez Canal.

Iran can use this transit route to distribute European commodities in the shortest possible time and at a lower cost than other routes to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

 

Tehran and Karachi hold joint webinar on trade expansion

Recently, Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (TCCIMA), and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) held an Iran-Pakistan business forum via webinar.

During the online event, the two sides discussed expansion of economic ties and expressed readiness for the implementation of a free trade agreement between the two countries.

In this regard, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tehran, Rahim Hayat Qureshi talked about his country’s efforts to finalize the free trade agreement. TCCIMA Head, Masoud Khansari called the agreement an important step towards the US$3 billion goal in trade relations between the two countries.

The webinar presented an opportunity to the two countries’ business owners active in various areas including energy, tourism, transportation, food, agriculture, pharmaceutical, health, clothing, textile, and leather to share ideas and explore collaborative capacities.

Speaking in the event, Khansari pointed to the barter trade as a good solution for the current problems in the way of expanding the trade relations between the two sides and noted that the two sides are working on the matter.

He announced the formation of a joint working group between the private sectors of the two countries to identify obstacles and challenges in the way of trade between the two countries and to eliminate them.

“By establishing dialogue and sharing solutions by the private sectors of the two countries, achieving the US$3 billion trade will be possible,” Khansari stressed.

Strengthening the transport infrastructure between the two countries, using the two countries’ national currencies for trade, forming joint ventures for establishing industrial parks in border areas, and finally establishing joint banks were among the solutions offered by the head of TCCIMA for boosting trade between the two sides.

Referring to the opening of the new border between Iran and Pakistan last week, the Pakistani ambassador for his part noted that the governments of the two countries are working to establish more common borders and border markets in the future.

Pakistan has a relatively large consumer market with a population of over 200 million. According to the World Trade Organization, imports constitute over 66 percent of Pakistan’s trade.

Expansion of trade with Pakistan, and boosting exports to this neighboring country is one of Iran's priorities.