Improving market access and lowering trade tariffs were the focus on trade meetings between Iran’s Trade Promotion Organisation and India’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday.
Valiollah Afkhami Rad, the head of the Trade Promotion Organisation of Iran, urged Indian officials to lower import tariffs on pistachios, dates, apples, kiwifruit and pomegranates as part of a preferential trade agreement.
According to Iranian news site IRNA, Rad told the officials he was disappointed in the current bilateral trade between the two nations, and invited Indian businesses to invest in Iran’s southeastern port, Chabahar.
India was Iran’s fourth largest export market in 2014, accounting for 6 per cent of Iran’s total non-oil exports, according to the Trade Promotion Organisation.
In terms of fresh produce, Iran exports apples and kiwifruit to India, with importer IG International’s director Tarun Arora telling Fruitnet that supplies Iranian kiwifruit have undercut Italian product by US$3 per tray.
