Date: 27 June 2022 ، the watch 22:15
News ID: 10795

Iran gov’t approves plan to set up separate ministry for foreign trade

The Iranian government approved a plan to set up a separate ministry for foreign trade amid efforts to facilitate exports and imports and to help better regulate prices of consumer goods.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said that the cabinet has agreed to the establishment of the trade ministry in its meeting on Sunday, Press TV reported.
Bahadori Jahromi said in a Twitter post that the government’s main objectives of setting up a trade ministry include having “a more effective control on prices, facilitating and boosting foreign trade and providing stronger support to consumers”.

Iran had a separate ministry for trade for 37 years until 2011 when the government merged it with the ministry of industries and mines. A former administrative government’s push around three years ago to restore the trade ministry faced opposition from the parliament.
Political analysts say a renewed attempt to restore the ministry is likely to face less problems this time as the current parliament is generally supportive of the administrative government led by President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi.

Iran posted an annual trade figure of more than $100 billion for the year to late March with exports from the country reaching over $48 billion.
That comes as a series of American sanctions targeting Iran’s exports of crude oil since 2018 has led to increased activity in the non-oil sector of the economy, especially in the exports of agriculture goods and manufacturing products.

Source: Iran Daily