TEHRAN: Iran has invited India to boost the trade between two nations. India was the fourth biggest importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 2014. Iran exported USD 2.417 billion of non-oil goods to India and imported USD 4.31 billion of non-oil goods from here.
“We see tremendous untapped trade potential between the two nations. We are here to invite investments from here, especially from the private sector,” Iranian parliament member Hadi Ghavami said during a meeting organised by the World Trade Centre and the All-India Association of Industries here.
Ghavami said Iran had laid the foundation for good connectivity by developing its infrastructure, and cited the example of a new railroad head and further development of existing routes to create a strong north-south corridor.
Ali Akbar Farazi of Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture stressed that although both the countries have friendly relations, much needed to be done in increasing bilateral trade. The private sector needs to do much more and there is ample scope to increase trade.
Iran is the world’s fourth largest oil producer, has the second highest gas reserves in the world and fourth largest deposits of zinc. It also ranks 10th in global tourism hotspots.
India and Iran use the rupee payment mechanism through Uco Bank’s Nostro account.
