Businesses from Tajikistan and Iran are scheduled to meet at a trade conference in Mashhad, the capital of Iran’s Razavi Khorasan Province, from December 17-22.

Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) says16 Tajik companies have applied to participate in that conference.

An official source within a CCI says the conference will be focused on discussing the opportunities of jointly implementing commercial development projects and investing in Tajikistan’s economy.

Tajik companies that have applied for participations in the conference are reportedly mainly active in the food industry, building materials, and engineering services.

Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Tajik northern province of Sughd, Muhammadjon Muhamamdjonov, will head the Tajik delegation to the trade conference in Mashhad.

Tajik and Iranian entrepreneurs are expected to hold B2B meetings traders in the fields of food industry, building materials, and technical-engineering services on the sidelines of the conference B2B meetings will be held between the two sides businessmen and traders in the fields of food industries, construction materials, and technical-engineering services on the sidelines of the conference

Tajikistan’s Embassy in Tehran and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Islamic Republic of Iran will support entrepreneurs to contribute to economic and trade cooperation.

Iran’s Mehr News Agency reports that back in late June, Iran and Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Tehran to expand bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade and industry.

The MoU was reportedly signed at the end of a meeting between the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Payman-Pak and Tajikistan’s Principal Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies Bakhtiyor Sharifi.

Under the framework of the mentioned MoU, the two sides have agreed to strengthen and diversify industrial, mining, and trade cooperation in accordance with their national laws and international obligations.  Also, the two sides agreed on exchanging specialized trade and marketing delegations, especially during specialized exhibitions.

Also on May 30, Iranian and Tajik private sectors inked an MoU in Tehran on bilateral cooperation.  The document was inked by Tajikistan’s CCI Head Jamshed Jumakhonzoda and Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafeie in the presence of the two countries’ presidents.

The MoU was among the 17 documents of cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, trade, transportation, investment, new technologies, environment, sports, energy, judiciary, education and research, and tourism signed in the presence of Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.

The two-day 15th meeting of the Tajikistan-Iran joint commission for trade and economic cooperation took place in Tehran on December 5-6.  Co-chaired by Tajik Minister of Energy and Water Resources Daler Juma and Iranian Minister of Energy Ali-Akbar Mehrabian, the meeting was focused on cooperation between the two countries in sectors like trade, hydropower and culture.

The parties reportedly reached different agreements in various areas including free trade zones, high education and cultural heritage, health, food, transportation, agriculture, communications and technology, oil and oil products, energy, water and environment.

Iranian Minister of Energy Ali-Akbar Mehrabian had earlier noted that trade ties between Iran and Tajikistan rose significantly in 2013 before they started to decline.

According to data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Iran in January-October this year has valued at 181.807 million U.S. dollars (2.4-fold increase compared to the same period last year).  This reportedly consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Iran estimated at 86.813 U.S. million dollars and Tajikistan’s imports from Iran worth 94.975 U.S. million dollars.