Head of Iran’s Trade Development Organization (TPO) Valliollah Afkhamirad, announced on Friday that Iran and Venezuela have sealed a deal on barter trade, inviting the Iranian food and medical manufacturers to boost their presence in the Venezuelan market.
“In a meeting attended by the head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the industry minister, we agreed to export to Venezuela the goods it needs, while Caracas has also expressed readiness to do barter trade with Tehran,” Afkhamirad was quoted by ISNA as saying.
He further said that one of the main objectives of the TPO during the current year (started March 21) is to upgrade Iran’s trade relations with countries in the region and beyond, noting, “We are trying to increase the volume of trade based on bilateral and multilateral MoUs that we have been signing with other countries.”
He said that the current year has been dubbed “year of non-oil exports”, expressing hope that Iranian manufactures will make every effort to help the government achieve its goal of boosting non-oil exports.
The Iranian government is trying to generate new sources of income mainly through non-oil exports that can be replaced with its traditional revenues from oil – a shaky source of income that has proven time and again to be very susceptible to international volatilities.
Based on government projections, revenues from non-oil exports, including the export of services, should reach $77 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year. According to the plan, the value of exports of goods is expected to reach $61.1 billion, while exports of services are to generate more than $15.6 billion.
