TEHRAN (ecoideal)- Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization announced that the volume of the country's exports to Somalia has risen by 38 percent in the last Iranian year (ended March 20. 2017).
"Last year, the country’s exports to Somalia, situated in the Horn of Africa, grew by 38 percent as compared to the year before that," said Farzad Piltan, a senior manager of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization.
The official underlined that Iran’s exports to Somalia had stood at $22 million two years ago while the figure increased by $8 million last year and hit $30 million.
He said that major items exported by Iran to Somalia included vinyl-polychlorine, white cement, biscuits, cooked dough, ceramic tile, bitumen, retail drugs and cast iron cutlery.
"The rise in trade volume with Somalia has been due to increased exports of products like White cement, tile, chocolate and minerals,” Piltan added.
The official went on to say that a number of new items were also purchased by Somalia over past year, including vinyl-polychlorine, long hydraulic furnace cement, ironware, ampicillin trihydrate, polypropylene and beverages.
“Iran had no imports from Somalia in the previous Iranian calendar year,” he added.
In relevant remarks in July 2014, senior parliamentarians from Iran and Somalia, in a meeting in Tehran, expressed hope that the bilateral ties between the two friendly states would witness further enhancement in various sectors, particularly in parliamentary fields.
During the meeting, First Vice-Speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi Fard said Tehran and Mogadishu should use the existing opportunities to expand their bilateral relations.
The Iranian parliament, he said, supports expansion of cooperation with the African countries in industrial and economic fields.
Meanwhile, members of the Somali delegation called for fostering bilateral ties between the two countries, parliamentary relations in particular.
Iran is an observing member of the African Union (AU) and has shown an active presence in previous AU summit meetings.
The country is considered as one of the AU's strategic partners along with India, Japan, China, several South American states and Turkey, while Tehran is also believed to be prioritizing promotion of its economic and political ties with the African states.
Source: Farsnews