TEHRAN- Trade between Iran and Azerbaijan through Bileh Savar border crossing has risen eight percent during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20), the chairman of Iran-Azerbaijan Joint Chamber of Commerce announced.

Underlining trade relations between the two countries, Hossein Pir-Moazen said, “Perhaps the only country with which we were able to maintain our economic relations during the coronavirus pandemic was Azerbaijan. So that our joint customs were never closed. While Bileh Savar and Astara customs were not closed, they also faced an increase in export capacity.”

Now the customs are open 24 hours a day and exports are done bilaterally, he stated.

In a telephone conversation in late June, Iran’s Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Farhad Dejpasand and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev had explored the ways for the expansion of the bilateral economic relationship between the two countries amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Dejpasand, who is also the Iranian chairman of the joint economic committee of the two counties, said, “I hope that with the help of bilateral cooperation, we will be able to witness the expansion and strengthening of economic relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.”

The minister also referred to the building of a joint industrial park near the border of the two countries and joint projects of North-South Corridor which is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road routes for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

MA/MA