Iran is ready to export nuts, vegetables and fruit to Ukraine, said a deputy minister of agriculture. Ali Akbar Mehrfard made the statement on the sidelines of a ceremony where Iran and Ukraine signed a comprehensive agreement of cooperation during a session of their fifth joint economic commission in Tehran on Monday. “Iran’s per capita fruit production is 2.5 times the global average. To reduce agro waste and make processing more efficient, we are planning on joint research and exhibitions with Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA. Addressing the ceremony, Iran’s Agricultural Minister Mahmoud Hojjati said, “We want cooperation in the agriculture sector and starting joint companies can help us carry out such projects as extraterritorial cultivation.” In mid-September, Isfahan Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine’s Kherson and Donetsk provinces to lease arable land and cultivate crops to meet domestic demand. This is part of a national project dubbed “Beyond Border Farming” aimed at reducing water consumption and ensuring food security by leasing arable land in other countries for growing crops such as oilseeds and grains. According to Hojjati, Iran has already cultivated water-intensive crops on 1 million hectares of land in Ukraine, Tajikistan and a few African countries. The agreement was signed in the fields of investment, agriculture, oil and gas, banking, industry, nuclear energy, aeronautics, auto manufacturing, tourism, customs, transportation and trade. Speaking at the signing ceremony, visiting Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko expressed his county’s willingness to expand and fortify its economic ties with Iran.
