TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Hamid Zadboum said promoting domestic production is the prerequisite of export development, IRIB reported.

“Exports improve when there is production, and we have to move in the direction of export-based production,” Zadboum said in a press conference on Monday.

According to the official, part of the country’s export problems is structural and because of the lack of export-intended production.

“Based on the estimates, Iran has the capacity to export $100 billion to the neighboring countries, and this capacity will be exploited only when production is promoted,” the TPO head stressed.

Import management is important along with the development of exports, which means that the value of the industrial imports must decrease and the exports from this sector must increase, Zadboum emphasized.

Mentioning the government’s recent decision on limiting the ceiling of exports for new exporting companies to $500,000, the official said the government’s intension is not to ban exports but to regulate it.

“The priority is to supply the domestic market and the needs of the people, but exports are also an important part of the economy that must be encouraged with various incentives,” he said.

Referring to the latest situation of the borders with the neighboring countries, Zadboum said: "Turkey's railway and road borders are open for trade. The Iraqi borders are also open, except for two cases. The border crossings with Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Pakistan are also open"

As for Turkmenistan, currently, there are only a rail and a road border open for trade, he added.

EF/MA