Domestic Firms Flocking to Upcoming Iranian Expo in Damascus

“This shows how eager Iran’s businesses are to find a market and gain a share in Syria,” says CEO of Iran International Exhibitions Company.

“Some 70% of these companies and businesses are owned by the private sector. Agreements and contracts have been lined up by the two sides during the expo. We are positive that the Iranian private sector’s share in the Syrian market will experience a jump after this event,” Hassan Zamani was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

The official noted that one of the main goals of the Cabinet is to provide hands-on support to the private sector for them to be able to realize their full potential.

Iranian businesses active in the fields of hospital and medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, construction material, architecture, agriculture, animal husbandry, oil and gas, petrochemicals, police and security equipment, food industries, water and electricity, steel, informatics, doors and windows, elevators and escalators, chain store and supermarket equipment, motorcycles, automobiles, textile, home appliances, banking and insurance are to take part in the event, IRIB News reported.  

Zamani told ILNA that Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous, Economy and Foreign Trade Minister Mohammad Samer al-Khalil, Iran’s Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade, Reza Fatemi Amin and head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Alireza Peymanpak are expected to attend this year’s opening ceremony for Iran’s Specialized Expo in Damascus.

Iran exported about 38,000 tons of non-oil goods valued at $66 million to Syria during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21 to July 21) to register a 36% rise in value but a 26% decline in tonnage compared with last year’s corresponding period, according to director general of Trade Promotion Organization for Arab and African Countries Department.

Speaking in an interview with Fars News Agency, Farzad Piltan added that Iran is the seventh biggest exporter to Syria, although it accounts for only 3% of export share in the Syrian market.

Iran has offered to help Syria rebuild its war-torn areas after years of conflict.

“Tehran and Damascus have a free trade agreement in place, which can have a significant effect on easing trade between the two sides. Syria’s high demand for agricultural and food products, home appliances, pharmaceuticals, construction material, sanitary ware, agro machinery and equipment, and Iran’s capabilities in these areas, coupled with reasonable prices and high quality of its products, can help boost commercial interactions between the two sides,” he said.

Syria and Iran concluded a free trade agreement in February 2012, which included reducing customs duties to 4% on goods traded between the two countries, cancelling all quantitative restrictions, and lifting the ban on imports with similar effects.

The agreement came into force on March 12, 2012, and included an agreement to allow commercial trucks to pass between the two countries through Iraq.