During a meeting between Iran’s Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Abbas Ali-Abadi and Oman’s Energy and Minerals Minister Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, the two sides stressed the need to expand and strengthen cooperation in the fields of industry and mining.As reported, Ali-Abadi was accompanied by his deputy for machinery and equipment industries, Mohammad Mousavi, his deputy for mines and materials processing, Reza Mohtashami-Pour, as well as his deputy Mehdi Zeyghami, who is also the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), in his trip to Oman.Aiming to expand economic ties, Iran and Oman signed four cooperation documents in various areas including energy, investment, and free zones during the official visit of Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said to Tehran in late May.The document on the energy sector was signed by Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Oji and Omani Minister of Energy and Minerals Salim bin Nasser al-Aufi.The two countries also signed three other documents to cooperate in the economic, investment, and free zones sectors.Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi and Secretary of Iran's Free Zones High Council Hojatollah Abdolmaleki signed the mentioned documents with the ministers of economy and commerce of Oman.Mentioning the prospects of economic relations between the two countries in the future, Khandouzi said: “Considering that after the visit of President Raisi to Muscat last year, the volume of business exchanges between Iran and Oman increased significantly, the evidence indicates that the coming months and next year will also witness an increase in trade relations between the two countries.”“Our agreement with our Omani counterparts is for the relations between the two countries to enter a phase of joint investments in addition to completing the current trade ties, which will create a much more lasting economic link in the long term,” Khandouzi noted.Meanwhile, in mid-July, the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) called for promoting joint investment between the private sectors of Iran and Oman in order to boost the trade exchanges between the two countries.Hossein Selahvarzi made the remarks in a meeting with Omani Ambassador to Tehran Ibrahim bin Ahmed Almuaini.During the meeting, Selahvarzi expressed the readiness of the private sectors of Iran and Oman for joint investments, as well as, using transit capacities of the two countries for re-exports if the necessary infrastructure is provided by the governments of the two countries.Referring to the 40 percent growth of trade exchanges between the two countries in the previous year, the official said: “Although this positive trend is significant, the ICCIMA is trying to increase the volume of exchanges as much as possible.”He pointed out that the Joint Economic Committee meeting of Iran and Oman will soon be held in Tehran, noting that the ICCIMA is ready to discuss ways of facilitating the trade between the private sectors of the two countries in the mentioned meeting.“The main obstacles facing the cooperation of the two countries’ private sectors are related to banking transactions and transportation,” Selahvarzi added. (ICE TEHERAN)

Fonte notizia: Tehran Times