Domestic Economy
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High Council of Exports to Meet

High Council of Exports  to Meet
High Council of Exports  to Meet

The next meeting of the High Council of Exports will focus on easing the entire process of exportation in the near future.

"Increasing non-oil exports has always been regarded as a primary objective for the government and the Rouhani administration is also determined to promote it as the highest economic priority," first vice-president Es'haq Jahangiri said in a meeting attended by members of the parliament's export committee and chambers of commerce as well as private sector industrialists. The meeting was aimed at reviewing solutions to increase the volume of non-oil exports, as reported by the government's official website.

Non-oil exports can play a decisive role at a time when the country is grappling with recession. Majority of economists also believe that non-oil exports can reinvigorate the economy and help pull it out of recession, according to Jahangiri.

"Peaceful international relations is a major requirement for bolstering exports and the government has taken effective steps in this respect through reaching mutual agreements with various countries," Jahangiri added.

He called on all Iranian exporters to draw for themselves a broader view of the regional markets and promised, on behalf of the administration, to make every effort in order to remove the existing obstacles and facilitate the process by taking new measures, including allocation of a special credit line for countries of destination.

Non-oil exports in 2013 surpassed $40 billion, and the number should exceed "$50 billion by the end of the current Iranian year (ending March 21, 2015)", Asadollah Asgaroladi, chairman of the export committee of Iran's Chamber of Commerce stated.

Asgaroladi also called on the government to devise an effective policy to ease restrictions facing non-oil exports through improving foreign relations, which could eventually help remove the US-led sanctions and facilitate financial transactions with other countries. Tariff reviews and facilitation of visa issuance for exporters were also among other required improvements to trade regulations, according to Asgaroladi.

Other attendees also took turns to raise their concerns and put forward proposals for increasing trade with foreign countries. They requested the government to consider certain initiatives such as granting low-interest loans to exporters, including a comprehensive export plan in the 6th Five-Year Economic Development Plan, facilitating Iranian exporters' presence in international exhibitions, establishing export-friendly funds and financial institutions, providing a new framework for the timely refunding of VAT on export goods, revising the current trade regulations -- in particular for the technical and engineering services -- and removing anti-export bias, rendering legal and administrative support to exporters and increasing export incentives.

They also asked the foreign ministry to help with the search and identification of potential new markets for Iran's exports.

 

Financialtribune.com