ECONOMIC IDEAL – Tehran, April 29, IRNA – The head of the joint chamber of Iran and Afghanistan said on Wednesday that Iranian exports to Afghanistan are growing and predicted that it will rise up by 300 million dollars in the current Iranian year (starting on March 20).
Hossein Saleemi said that the Iran-Afghanistan border is the only one open to transit now; other borders, e.g. Turkey and Afghanistan are closed, due to the coronavirus.
Saleemi said that the export process is being done very slowly because they the drivers and goods need to be quarantined first and examined carefully due to the virus.
He added however based on the number of trucks, one can say that export to Iran’s export to Afghanistan is growing.
But there is no finalized statistics yet, he said, adding that there are still some problems for transferring money. The Central Bank of Iran is trying to solve the problems.
China is one of the most important countries exporter to Afghanistan, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, Chinese export to Afghanistan has stopped, which gives Iran a very good opportunity.
Petrochemicals were on the top of the Iranian exports to Afghanistan, but, due to currency transfer issues, no food is on top of the list, he said.
He believes that the export to Afghanistan can be kept even after the conditions become normal.
He estimated that the export to Afghanistan in this Iranian year will approach $3.1 billion compared to $2.7 billion last year.
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