Tehran, Minsk to facilitate trade through customs

TEHRAN,Nov.18(MNA) - Iran and Belarus have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), aiming to facilitate trade through customs. On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Iranian Customs Administration Head Abbas Memarnejad said that “We are able to reach $1 billion in bilateral trade and can do even more”. According to him, the trade between Belarus and Iran is currently around $130 million. Memarnejad believes that the customs structure should play an important role in the development of trading relations, including simplified customs procedures. Direct investment should be involved in the trade turnover, too. The MOU will give an additional impetus to the development of economic relations between Belarus and Iran, he noted. The memorandum aims to implement the 2004 governmental agreement on mutual administrative assistance and cooperation in customs matters between the two countries.