Iran's minister of economic affairs and finance says the Islamic Republic and Brazil have emphasized their firm resolve to increase the volume of bilateral trade to USD 5 billion a year.
Ali Tayyebnia made the remarks after a meeting with the visiting Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Armando Monteiro in Tehran on Tuesday.
“According to agreements reached [between the two countries], we will do our best to increase the volume of economic exchanges between the two countries to five billion dollars a year,” he noted.
He mentioned developing banking and insurance relations between Tehran and Brasilia as top requisite for increasing bilateral trade volume to the projected level.
Tayyebnia stated that a high-ranking delegation representing Brazil’s state-run and private sectors is accompanying Monteiro, which makes his visit a good opportunity for the conclusion of investment and trade agreements between the two countries’ state-run and private sectors.
He added that the meeting of the two countries’ joint economic commission will be held in Brazil within the first three months of 2016.
Tayyebnia mentioned signing basic agreements on customs cooperation, scrapping double taxation, and encouraging mutual investments in Iran and Brazil as a major prerequisite for further expansion of bilateral ties.
Monteiro also met and conferred with Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh on Tuesday, indicating his country’s willingness to buy liquefied natural gas from Iran.
The Brazilian minister arrived in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Monday to explore ways of bolstering economic relations between Tehran and Brasilia.
He is accompanied by a delegation representing various economic sectors of the Latin American country, including officials from Brazil’s chamber of commerce, central bank, economic officials of Brazilian Foreign Ministry as well as businesspeople and economic activists.
Strengthening relations between Tehran and Brasilia in such areas as foreign trade, energy, banking, agriculture and investment are the main goal of Monteiro’s Tehran visit.