TEHRAN – Iran witnessed a 28 percent growth in non-oil exports in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), said the deputy head of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) here on Saturday.

Given the $4.5 billion worth of exports in the quarter, the figure was predicted to earn the country $10.5 billion by March 2008, Babak Afqahi told MNA.
He added that the government had a satisfactory function in foreign trade sector, reporting that the country’s non-oil exports in the previous year stood at about $16.3 billion.
The United Arab Emirates stood first by importing 14.2 percent of Iran’s export-bound products, he added.
Accounting for 10.6 and 8 percent, Iraq and China followed the UAE, he announced.
Referring to the technical and engineering services, Afqahi added that the country signed $185 million worth of the technical and engineering services contracts in the quarter mostly with neighboring countries.
Renovation of distillation towers, power generation and distribution, water supply and gas power plants construction constitute the projects, he added.
Referring to the mineral output as the main source of the country’s export-bound products, he said that the sector accounted for 25 percent of the whole exports.
He indicated that Iran exports over 2,570 products to 138 countries, adding 14 more countries were added to target countries’ list in the quarter which are typically from Africa and Latin America.
Iran’s exports to the Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) and Economic Cooperation Organization member countries showed 12 and 8 percent rises respectively