Tehran Times - The governor of Armenia’s Lori City announced that the city is prepared to facilitate trade for the businessmen from Iranian northern province of Mazandaran, IRNA reported.

Speaking in a video conference with the Mazandaran governor, Andrey Ghukasyan said Lori is ready to fulfill Iranian and Armenian businessmen’s demands in line with reinforcing economic ties.

The Armenian official further vowed for facilitating and accelerating clearance of goods from the customs for the Iranian businessmen.

Investment in Mazandaran is an opportunity for Armenian businessmen, he noted.

He also underlined Mazandaran’s good infrastructures in the trade and tourism fields.

“We will spare no efforts for satisfying Mazandaran businessmen”, Ghukasyan reiterated.

He went on to say that Mazandaran enjoys the good garden, food, and dairy products which can fulfill a considerable part of Armenian provinces’ needs.

He referred to signing an MOU between Mazandaran and Lori, saying we are committed to implementing these MOUs.

The MOU was signed last year aiming to develop economic interactions between Lori and Mazandaran.

Iran has resumed exports to its neighbor Armenia since early April.

“The exports are conducted via Iran’s northwestern Norduz border in a limited quantity”, Rouhollah Latifi, the spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), announced at the time, adding, “With 250 trucks passing through the border on Aras River, trade with the neighboring country is normalizing after weeks.”

“Armenia imported over $430 million worth of Iranian goods in the past Iranian calendar year [ended on March 19] to become the country’s second export destination among the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)’s member states after Russia,” he said.

Iran’s preferential trade agreement with the EAEU has had a significant impact on the country’s trade relations with Armenia, according to the head of Iran-Armenia Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“The two sides are applying tariff discounts offered based on the agreement and there has been no problem in this regard”, Hervik Yarijanian said in January.

According to the official, the volume of trade between the two countries has witnessed an outstanding rise since the agreement became effective last October.

Iran mainly imports red meat from Armenia, while Armenia imports polymer raw materials, machinery, industrial gases, manufactured artifacts, leather, and leather goods from Iran, he said.

He further noted that Iran has a much greater export capability compared to Armenia, adding that traders have not yet gotten used to the idea of the preferential trade agreement and hopefully with the expansion of this deal, more Iranian traders will be attracted to the Armenian market.

Iran and Armenia have been emphasizing the need for preserving and expanding trade relations between the two countries since the preferential trade deal between Iran and EAEU was implemented.

While the U.S. renewed sanctions on Iran are aimed at isolating the Islamic Republic both politically and economically, Iran’s relations, especially in the economic sectors, with its neighbors are seemed not to be affected by the sanctions.

The northwestern neighbor Armenia is one of the countries preserving and expanding its economic relations with Iran regardless of the sanction condition.