Iran-Tajikistan Trade Quintuples: Envoy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Tajikistan’s ambassador to Tehran pointed to the improvement of bilateral trade between Tehran and Dushanbe over the past three years and said mutual trade between the two countries has increased fivefold in the administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The increased volume of trade between Iran and Tajikistan is the outcome of the firm determination of senior officials of the two countries, Nizamuddin Zahedi emphasized, speaking at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday entitled “Introducing Iran’s Investment Opportunities in Tajikistan”.
The ambassador stressed that there is no obstacle to the development of trade between the two countries.
Iran and Tajikistan have a high potential for the expansion of bilateral cooperation in various economic, trade, energy and transportation sectors, Zahedi highlighted.
Planning is underway to turn Tajikistan into an industrialized country, he said, calling on Iranian companies to invest in the Central Asian country, especially in the fields of pharmaceutical, mineral and power plant industries.
Many Iranian industries have considerably progressed over the past 40 years and the country has managed to turn the sanctions’ threat into an opportunity for development and growth, he stated.
The director general of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) for Central Asia Affairs also addressed the conference, predicting that the bilateral trade between Iran and Tajikistan would increase to $500 million in the coming years.
Sepideh Akbarpour put the value of non-oil products exported from Iran to Tajikistan in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 to October 22, 2023) at about $133 million, showing about a 75-percent growth compared to the same period last year.
In this timespan, she said, Iran imported $35 million worth of products from Tajikistan, registering an about eight percent down compared to last year’s corresponding period.
