Iran, India moving to finalize trade agreement: TPO Official

A senior Iranian trade official says Iran and India have finalized a draft agreement on preferential trade after five rounds of high-level talks.

Reza Seyyed Aghazadeh, from the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO), said on Saturday that Iran was waiting for India’s approval on a list of goods that would give Iranian exporters some $1.5 billion worth of tariff cuts a year.

“We think this agreement would have a considerable influence on disciplined and well-organized trade between the two sides and would open up new doors to (exports of) Iranian goods,” said the official who heads TPO’s Asia and Oceania Office.

Aghazadeh said exports to India had soared by 240% in value terms in the quarter to late June against similar period last year.

The official did not elaborate on exact figures although he mentioned pandemic-related border closures imposed over June quarter 2020 that had seriously affected trade between Iran and India.

Figures by the Iranian government show India was the fifth largest purchaser of Iranian goods in the first quarter of the current calendar year although exports to the country had amounted to only 3.2% of Iran’s total exports over the period.

India was the sixth largest supplier of goods to Iran over the same quarter as it was responsible for just 2.5% of goods imported into Iran.

Aghazadeh insisted that India would definitely seek to expand its trade and economic relations with Iran once the country is relieved of US sanctions.

He said the value of trade between Iran and India has never dropped below $4 billion even at times when US economic pressure on Iran has been at its highest in recent years.

MG