A total of 147,000 tons of goods worth $243.16 million were exported from Iran to Syria in fiscal 2022-23 (ended March 20), registering 10.6% and 11.4% rises in weight and value compared with the year before, respectively, according to the spokesman of the Iranian House of Industry, Mine and Trade’s Trade Development Commission.
“Food, dairy and agriculture products with $40 million, medicine and medical equipment with $33.6 million, different kinds of metals and steel products with $15 million, urea fertilizer with $9 million, different kinds of faucets with $2.5 million, different kinds of motor oil and industrial oil with $2 million, auto body, auto parts spare parts with $1.5 million, and cleansers with $1.4 million were the main exported products,” Rouhollah Latifi was quoted by IRNA as saying.
The export list also includes petrochemical and petroleum products, chemicals and minerals, solvents, construction materials, thread and fabric, rubber, board, paper and cardboard, tile and ceramic, shoes, glass and mirror, different kinds of dishes, locks, turbine, vehicle engines, chillers, elevators, industrial machines, home appliances, electronic appliances, tractors, furniture and different kinds of doors.
“From fiscal 2002-03 to fiscal 2011-12, i.e. before the Syrian war, Iran’s non-oil exports to this country had an increasing trend for ten years. Iran’s total exports to Syria stood at $2.47 billion during this 10-year period. But after the beginning of Syria’s crisis until fiscal 2022-23, total exports to this country stood at $1.88 billion during the 11 years,” Latifi noted.
He added that in addition to the war, the presence and intervention of foreign forces, the blocking of transit and transportation routes leading to Syria and the spread of Covid-19 have played an important role in reducing the volume of exports during the past 11 years, which has been on an increasing trend again since Ebrahim Raisi took office as Iran’s president.
Iran’s exports to Syria stood at $63 million in fiscal 2002-03. It stood at $71 million in fiscal 2003-04, $116 million in fiscal 2004-05, $186 million in fiscal 2005-06, $236.5 million in fiscal 2006-07, $330 million in fiscal 2007-08, $316 million in fiscal 2008-09, $379 million in fiscal 2009-10, a record high $524.5 million in fiscal 2010-11, and $373 million in fiscal 2011-12, when the crisis began.
Iranian exports to Syria hit $161 in fiscal 2012-13. Exports stood at $117 million in fiscal 2013-14, $103 million in fiscal 2014-15, $159 million in fiscal 2015-16 and $256 million in fiscal 2016-17.
Syria imported $326 million of Iranian goods in fiscal 2017-18, the first year of Raisi’s government.
Despite the easing of tensions in Syria and the defeat of terrorist groups in the country, Iran’s exports reached $159 million in fiscal 2018-19 due to the restrictions and blocking of transit and transportation routes to Syria.
Exports stood at $166 million in fiscal 2019-20 and $122 million in fiscal 2020-21 with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the suspension of trade in many countries.
With the reopening of borders and resumption of world trade and the start of Raisi’s tenure as Iran’s president, Iranian exports to Syria hit $218.26 million in fiscal 2021-22, registering a 99% rise in value compared with the year before.
Raisi in Damascus
Ebrahim Raisi set off to Damascus Wednesday in the first visit by an Iranian president since war broke out in the Arab country.
The visit comes just weeks after Iran's landmark agreement to restore ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia and amid a flurry of diplomacy in the Middle East as regional relations with Iran and Syria shift.
Raisi and Assad would discuss "bilateral ties, shared economic and political issues, and positive developments in the region", Syria's state news agency SANA said.
Preparations for Raisi's visit have been underway for days in the Damascus district housing Iran's embassy, an AFP correspondent said.
Iran's president would lead a senior "economic-political delegation" for his two-day trip at Assad's invitation, Iranian state media reported.
The last Iranian president to visit Damascus was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September 2010, while Assad has officially visited Tehran twice since the war broke out, the last time in May 2022.
Damascus-based analyst Osama Danura said the visit "will open a new page in the close relationship between the two countries".
It "could focus on long-term economic strategies", he added, noting Iran "has put itself forward strongly as a contributor to the reconstruction phase".
"A large number of agreements and memoranda of understanding" will be signed during Raisi's visit, including on "energy and electricity", Syria's Al-Watan newspaper reported.
There would also be "discussions on a new Iranian credit line for Syria for investment in the power sector," the daily added, in a country where blackouts can last around 20 hours a day.
In January 2019, Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding, including a "long-term strategic economic cooperation" deal.
Both Tehran and Damascus remain under heavy Western sanctions.
The regional atmosphere following the Saudi-Iran rapprochement has made Raisi's visit "more appropriate", analyst Danura said.
Assad is hoping full normalization of ties with wealthy Persian Gulf monarchies and other Arab states will also help finance post-war reconstruction.
In April, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made the first visit to Damascus by a Saudi official since the start of the war.
"Fighting terrorism is one of the successful examples of cooperation between the two countries," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said this week.
"We were with the Syrian nation during the difficult years caused by the organized attacks of multinational terrorists... and we will be with the Syrian nation during the construction period," he added.
Analyst Danura said he also expected Syria-Turkey relations to be discussed.
Tehran has been part of four-way talks with Damascus, Moscow and Ankara seeking to repair Syria-Turkey ties, which were severed at the start of the conflict.
