Iran has considerably increased exports of its non-oil goods to neighboring Iraq in recent months, a senior trade official announced on Sunday.
"The exports of Iran's non-oil goods to Iraq via Shahid Rajayee Port have increased by 20 percent in the current Iranian (started March 21, 2014) as compared with last year," Deputy Head of Hormuzgan Ports and Maritime Organization Mohammad Ali Asl Saeedipour said today.
"We expect traders in the neighboring countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan to consider Shahid Rajayee Port as their own national port,” he added.
Shahid Rajayee port is located 23 km West of Bandar Abbas, provincial capital city of Hormuzgan Province.
On Thursday, Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)'s Director for Trade with Iraq Majid Qorbanifaraz said Iran has exported non-oil goods worth more than $2.7 billion to Iraq in the first seven months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2014-October 22, 2014).
"A sum of $2.73787 billion worth in goods has been exported to Iraq (from Iran),” he said.
He said that export of cement to Iraq ranks first compared with other commodities, adding that tiles are the second most exported commodity to Iraq after cement.
On Tuesday, Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Saeed Danayeefar said that Iraq has great capacities and is a lucrative market for Iran's commodities.
"According to Iran's customs office, Iran has exported over $7 billion to Iraq last year and this figure can be increased to $22 billion in the future," Danayeefar said, addressing a trade conference in Tehran.
The Iranian envoy underlined that Iraq's medicine and medical equipment market is worth $3 billion, and said, "The necessary permits for exporting Iran-made pharmaceutical products to Iraq have been issued."