Iran non-oil exports to Pakistan at US$1.3 billion

Iran has exported non-oil commodities valued at US$1.3 billion to Pakistan during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

Mohammad Rezvani-Far said that Pakistan registered the highest growth in import of goods from Iran, among the other neighboring countries, in the mentioned eight-month period. 

He said that Pakistan had imported non-oil products worth US$855 million from the Islamic Republic in the first eight months of the past year.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is aiming to expand its economic and trade relations with Pakistan through establishing joint free zones and trade centers with the country, IRIB reported.

According to Ahmad Jamali, the deputy secretary of Iran’s Free Zones High council, Tehran has reached an agreement with Islamabad to establish a joint free zone on the border between the two countries.

Courtesy: The Tehran Times

 

Saudi foreign trade grows to US$172 billion

Saudi Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority of Foreign Trade, Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, said that the Kingdom's foreign trade in a year amounted to US$172 billion.

He made these remarks at the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers' meeting, which was held on 24-25 August 2023 in Jaipur, India.

During the session on "Trade for Growth and Prosperity, and WTO Reforms," he reviewed the impact of reforms on the Saudi economy in light of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which offers significant initiatives to increase the integration of the Saudi economy regionally and globally.

He said that the volume of non-oil exports grew by 40% between 2018-2022 to US$28.7 billion, while the value of loans provided by the Saudi Export-Import Bank were reported at US$4.6 billion.

The minister added that the total number of small and medium enterprises in the Kingdom has reached 1.2 million, providing 80% of the jobs, and the annual growth of e-commerce reached 33% during 2016-2022.

Dr. Al-Qasabi stressed that the Kingdom made major gains as a result of the reforms it has undertaken during the past years, reflected in enhancing its competitiveness, as it ranked second among the G20 countries in digital competitiveness, as per the Digital Riser 2021 report and ranked sixth among 50 emerging countries in the "Agility" index for emerging markets for the year 2022.

The minister also said that the Kingdom ranked 17th among 64 countries in the World Competitiveness Yearbook (IMD) report for 2023 and 38th out of 138 per the Logistics Performance Index for 2023.

This year's G20 meetings are hosted in India under the theme "One Earth, One Family, One Future" to build a strong and developed global economy.