TEHRAN- The value of exports from East Azarbaijan Province in the northwest of Iran reached $710 million in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 20), according to an official with the province’s customs department.

Leily Orangi said that the province has exported commodities to 79 countries during the three-month period, Fars news agency reported.

Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan Republic, China, Afghanistan, Italy, Bulgaria, and Pakistan were the main export destinations of the province during the three-month period, the official said.

Mentioning the imports to the province during the first quarter, Orangi said Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Germany, China, Georgia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Austria, and Spain were the top ten exporters to East Azarbaijan.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), despite the U.S. sanctions Iran managed to export commodities to 128 countries in the past Iranian calendar year.

According to Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi, Asian countries account for over 70 percent of Iran’s foreign trade and Europe is the Islamic Republic’s second-biggest trade partner.

Iran exported non-oil commodities to 40 European countries, 21 Asian countries, 28 African countries, and 12 American countries, while importing from 41 European countries, 31 Asian countries, 12 American countries, and 11 countries in Africa.

The IRICA has put the country’s total foreign trade in the past year at $85.107 billion, noting that of the mentioned total figure the share of Iran’s exports was $41.37 billion while the imports stood at $43.737 billion.

The total weight of the country’s foreign trade was reported to be 169.302 million tons.

MA/MA