Head of Iran Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) and First Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan have agreed on the need to expand bilateral economic cooperation.

IRNA reported on June 27 that visiting Tajik trade delegation, led by First Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies, Bakhtiyor Sharifi, has met with TPO Head and Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade, Ali-Reza Peymanpak, in accordance with the agreements reached during the 14th Tajikistan-Iran Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation that indicates a Joint Industries, Mines and Trade Work Group needs to be established.

The two sides have reportedly stressed the need for boosting Iran-Tajikistan trade volume to match the abundance of shared cultural commonalities of the two nations and the excellent bilateral political relations.

Peymanpak said that the 130-million-dollar trade volume of the two countries is really trivial, and need to increase to provide the two countries’ requirements.

He reportedly set example of some items in extra-territorial agricultural activities such as providing the cotton for the Iranian weaving factories in Tajikistan.

Bakhtiyor Sharifi, for his part, welcomed the proposal of broadening economic interactions with Iran, emphasizing that Tajikistan, too, needs to benefit from Iran’s scientific and technological capabilities in its industries.

The two sides also surveyed the methods for commercial interactions in industrial fields, petrochemical and chemical products, food and pharmaceutical products, home appliances and ceramic tiles, according to IRNA.

The meeting participants reportedly agreed that both sides will survey the possibility of signing a preferential trade agreement to decrease the tariff charges for both sides.