ICCIMA Probes Hurdles in Exports to CIS

In a meeting held at Iran Chamber of Commerce, Mining, Industries, and Agriculture, authorities, including the head of Tabriz Chamber of Commerce and representatives of chambers from different Iranian cities, discussed problems and roadblocks in the way of Iran’s exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Referring to hurdles in the way of goods transit to Russia, Qadir Qiafeh of Iran Export Federation said Iranian truckers have lost their competitive edge and stopped commuting to the region, as they are forced to pay excessive costs in Dagestan and Azerbaijan compared to their Russian and Azerbaijani counterparts, ICCIMA’s website reported.

Noting that Iran’s transport fleet is too old, Samad Hassanzadeh, the head of Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, emphasized the importance of investing on buying new trucks and improving the transport fleet.

“Some Iranian exporters do not keep up with the required standards for producing and exporting goods to the northern region, which has given Iranian brands a bad name,” he said.

Amir Abedi, the head of Iran-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce, said visa is another problem Iranians face when doing trade with CIS countries.

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a loose confederation of nine member states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) and two associate members (Turkmenistan and Ukraine) that are located in Eurasia (primarily in Central to North Asia), formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and which were all former Soviet Republics.

Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation, chose not to participate.