Iran and Uzbekistan have reached a preliminary mutual agreement to allow tax-free entry licenses for trucks commuting between the two countries.
“The agreement was reached during the visit of Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi to Tashkent,” an official with Iran Roads Maintenance and Transportation Organization, Reza Nafisi, said.
The minister paid a four-day visit to Uzbekistan from May 30 to June 2 and discussed ways of improving cooperation with top officials there, ILNA reported.
At a joint business forum held in Tehran in April, deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, Mojtaba Khosrotaj, said Iran and Uzbekistan are currently in talks to revise or eliminate import/export tariffs in bilateral trade.
Khosrotaj, who also doubles as the head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, added that Iran and Uzbekistan have great potential for expanding cooperation in the fields of technical and engineering services, transportation and transit, IRNA reported.
A day earlier during the 12th session of Iran-Uzbekistan Economic Commission, Uzbekistan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Achilbay Rahmatov said bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $325 million in 2017.
“We are ready to increase the figure to $500 million in the near future,” he said.
The official added that Uzbekistan is willing to export textile, silk, processed fruit and vegetables, petrochemicals like polyethylene and propylene, electronic home appliances, and passenger and freight vehicles to Iran.
Rahmatov said Uzbekistan is ready to import 1 million tons of unprocessed oil products from Iran, which can be increased to 3 million tons in the near future.
Iran’s main exports to Uzbekistan are petrochemicals, pistachio, tea, floorings and stones.
