Pezeshkian’s Oman visit set $20b trade goal: Chamber head
Omani rial accounts opened for economic stakeholders
The head of the Iran-Oman Joint Chamber of Commerce stated that a bilateral trade target of $20 billion annually was set during President Masoud Pezeshkian's recent visit to Muscat.
Speaking to IRNA on Sunday, Jamal Razeqi Jahromi said a delegation comprising 90 Iranian private sector representatives accompanied the president on the visit on May 26-27.
Razeqi Jahromi, while acknowledging the deep-rooted political relations between the two countries, criticized the weakness in trade ties, stating, "Despite 40 to 60 percent trade growth over the past three years, Iran-Oman trade volume still falls short of $3 billion – equivalent to one-eighth of Iran’s trade with some Persian Gulf littoral states."
According to Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, the bilateral trade has surpassed $2 billion in recent years.
Direct Chabahar-Oman shipping line
Meanwhile, Sistan and Baluchestan Province Governor General Mansour Bijar, referencing discussions with the president about the visit’s outcomes for the province, announced on his X social media platform, "The 'Chabahar-Muscat' shipping line has been launched."
In an interview with IRNA, Razeqi Jahromi listed practical measures to facilitate bilateral trade, including establishing a joint financial institution in Oman within the next month to resolve money transfer issues and ease banking transactions; launching a direct shipping line between Chabahar and Oman in cooperation with the Chabahar Free Zone and Oman Chamber of Commerce; allocating one thousand square meters of workspace in Oman for Iranian knowledge-based companies; and reducing preferential tariffs between the two countries.
As reported by IRNA, practical steps to facilitate economic exchanges were taken during Pezeshkian’s visit to Oman, which saw broad private sector participation. 18 commercial memoranda and agreements were signed by the parties during the visit.
Ninety private sector economic actors from Tehran – active in technical engineering services, food industries, mining, knowledge-based and AI companies, petrochemicals, medical/pharmaceutical equipment, and tourism – participated in the visit, holding three commercially-focused programs with Omani economic actors.
An agreement was reached to exchange 700 commodity items under preferential currency tariffs during the visit, paving the way for expanded trade relations.
Furthermore, to develop regional cooperation in vocational training and enhance specialized human resource collaboration, an executive program for technical and vocational cooperation was signed in Muscat.
The executive program was formulated after intensive expert consultations between the two countries, based on shared perspectives regarding the necessity of "sustainable human capital development" and strengthening economic ties through skills training. It is hoped to open new horizons in educational, technical, and international cooperation.
Organizing joint trainer empowerment courses, exchanging specialized delegations, designing innovative labor-market-driven educational models, and developing skills training programs for target groups are among the mission areas Iran’s Technical and Vocational Training Organization will undertake under the memorandum.