A senior investment delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is due to visit Iran soon, says an Iranian deputy trade minister, amid signs that the two countries are determined to expand economic and trade ties despite political differences on regional issues.
Alireza Peymanpak, who serves as head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, said in a tweet on Tuesday that the delegation’s visit to Tehran will take place as part of agreements reached during Iranian trade minister Reza Fatemi Amin’s trip to the UAE earlier this week.
Peymanpak said that Iran will reactivate its trade center in the UAE after seeing that a major economic forum held in Dubai attracted more than 120 key business figures from the two countries.
In recent months, Iran and the UAE have intensified efforts to rebuild relations affected by the years-long war in Yemen and other regional issues.
A major re-exporting hub in the Persian Gulf, the UAE has been a major supplier of goods and machinery to Iran since 2018 when Tehran came under a series of unilateral economic sanctions by the United States.
UAE’s value of exports to Iran amount to over $1.5 billion per month, according to figures by the Iranian customs office.
Fatemi Amin’s visit to the UAE came as part of a regional tour that took him to Oman on Tuesday.
A report by the official IRNA news agency said that the tour is in line with the Iranian government’s policy of expanding trade and economic ties with neighbors, especially with the the Persian Gulf Arab countries.