TEHRAN- Scientific and Economic Cooperation Meeting Between Iran and West African Countries (IRAN WAC) began in Tehran on Monday and will wrap up on Wednesday.Addressing the very first day of the gathering, Mohsen Rezaei, the Iranian vice president for economic affairs, discussed the value of expanding trade in between Iran and the mentioned countries, and said, We can establish big multinational industrial companies in cooperation with each other and increase our share of worldwide trade; What Europeans and Americans do and are proud of.

My tip is to develop a joint bank of Iran and Africa; A bank that can have bilateral accounts; It suggests that capital must be allocated by the nations in the opposite country so that the traders of the other parties can do service with the common currencies of the countries without depending on dollars and euros.

The joint bank of Iran and Africa can be a great beginning point for the advancement of cooperation , the official even more explained.Also, the head of Irans Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said, The African continent has a lot of potential in the field of trade and economy for our nation, which has actually been overlooked in the past years.

Making the remarks on the sidelines of the pointed out occasion, Alireza Peyman-Pak said, In the 13th government, special attention was paid to the African region, so that Irans exports to African countries experienced a growth of 10-15 percent and surpassed 1 billion dollars and reached 2.10 billion dollars.

Referring to the capacity of West African nations, the authorities stated: Most of our trade has actually been with East and North Africa, and trade with West African countries, which are an essential location of mineral resources and high capacity, has been disregarded.

One of the challenges in trade with West African countries was the absence of acknowledgment and interaction; so steps are taken to develop trade in todays global economic conference, which is held with the presence of 50 officials and entrepreneurs from 10 West African countries , the TPO head even more highlighted.Irans export to Africa increases 6% in 11 months on yearThe value of Irans non-oil export to Africa increased six percent in the first 11 months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21, 2022-February 19, 2023), as compared to the same amount of time in the previous year, the vice president of Iran and Africa Merchants Club Ruhollah Latifi said.Latifi noted that Iranian traders exported over 2.379 million tons of products worth $1,155,532,000 to African countries in the mentioned 11-month duration, IRNA reported.According to the official, among Irans 55 African trade partners, the Islamic Republic exported products to 45 countries.Latifi put the overall Iran-Africa sell the said 11 months at 2.465 million tons valued at $1.239 billion, of which the share of Irans import was 85,851 lots valued at $83.5 million.

The worth of imports from Africa increased by 61 percent.The total trade in between Iran and Africa also increased by eight percent in regards to worth in the said duration, the official said.The authorities called South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Sudan, and Nigeria as the primary export locations and Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Seychelles as the major sources of imports for Iran among the African countries in the first 11 months of today year.Latifi previously said that trade between Iran and Africa reached $1.250 billion in 2015 with a 100 percent growth, and considering the present trend of trade with the African continent the figure is expected to reach $1.7 billion by the end of the existing year (March 20, 2023).

Head of Irans Trade Promotion Organization has also stated the country is taking the essential steps to increase annual trade exchanges with African countries to $5 billion by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (starts in March 2025).

Peyman-Pak stated the trade with the discussed nations is expected to reach $2.5 billion by the end of the existing Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2023).

Referring to the preparation of the nations trade development roadmap at the beginning of the work of the 13th administration, the authorities stated: In this roadmap, major aspects consisting of exports and the share of different sectors are specified, and in the case of Africa, the priorities and targets for trade with different nations and the requirements for reaching these targets are figured out.

EF/MAPhoto: Iranian Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezaei provides speech in IRAN WAC in Tehran on Monday