Iran is seeking to accelerate efforts to sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Uzbekistan amid hopes that the arrangement could lead to a substantial increase in trade with the Central Asian country, Iran’s Press TV reported.
Iran’s trade minister Mohammad Atabak was in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on November 10 to hold talks on new trade tariffs as well as on proposals to reduce customs barriers affecting trade between the two countries.
Atabak said that trade between Iran and Uzbekistan had increased by nearly 60% in the past seven months compared to the same period last year.
“However, this is not enough, and we must swiftly remove certain obstacles, particularly in rail and road transportation, customs issues, and the signing of a preferential trade agreement,” he said.
Iran and Uzbekistan reached an initial understanding to launch PTA negotiations during a visit by Uzbekistan’s minister of trade Laziz Kudratov to Tehran in October last year.
Estimates suggest that a PTA between the two countries would boost bilateral trade to $5 billion per year from the current $0.5 billion.
Iran hopes the PTA with Uzbekistan could significantly lower tariffs on its exports of manufacturing goods, including on train wagons, electricity generation turbines, steel, and petrochemical products.
The move is part of Tehran’s broader strategy to expand trade with regional and allied countries amid sanctions that restrict its access to Western markets.
Iran is also seeking greater access to markets in Central Asia, where landlocked countries are trying to benefit from trade along emerging East–West and North–South transport corridors.
