Iran and the UAE .. Economic normalization and expectations of high trade exchanges

Jazeera Net-Tehran

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Trade between Tehran and Dubai is expected to rise in the coming period as the United Arab Emirates ranks second in the list of top exporters to Iran after China last spring, Iranian economic circles said on Monday.

China, Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan are the top five importers of Iranian non-oil goods during the first five months of the Iranian year (March 21 to August 22).

While declaring that the Iranian trade exchange during the past five months exceeded 35.5 billion dollars, she stressed that the country achieved income of 17.8 billion dollars in the same period from the export of non-oil goods estimated at more than 60 million and 737 thousand tons.

Non-oil exports to China, Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan in the past five months have generated revenues of $ 13.337 billion, while the country's revenues during the same period amounted to 14.126 million tons worth $ 17.739 million.

The report concluded that the Islamic Republic's imports from China, UAE, Turkey, India and Germany amounted to $ 12.280 billion from March 21 to August 22.

Reduce stress
Economic researcher Massoud Taheri Mehr predicted that the volume of trade exchange between Tehran and Dubai will increase compared to last year, with the leaderships of the two countries intending to reduce tension and cooperation in the field of security and stability of the region.

"We have seen an openness in the UAE to resume the trade environment with Iran," Abdul Qader Faqihi, president of the UAE Merchants' Association of the UAE, said last month, adding that, as directed by Dubai officials, Iranian merchants would be re-granted business visas.

He pointed out that Iran is seeking to increase its exports to the UAE this year, and revealed that his country's non-oil exports fell during the last Iranian year by 11% compared with the previous year.

As for his country's intention to send a trade attaché to the UAE, the activist of the Iranian Trade Development Organization said that it is related to the nature of the future relations between the two sides, and that Tehran has not yet decided to send a trade attaché to the UAE.

Taheri Mehr added that the volume of trade exchange between Iran and the UAE last year amounted to $ 11 billion, including $ 6 billion of Iran's exports to its southern neighbor.

He concluded by saying that the destination of the majority of Iranian exports was the UAE, and that another part of his country's exports are being exported again from the southern neighbor to other countries, while stressing that many of the goods that Tehran imports from Dubai are from other countries' exports to the UAE.

Numbers and statistics
According to the report of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the capital Tehran, Iranian exports to the UAE last spring amounted to 4.161 thousand tons of goods worth one billion and 555 million dollars.

In contrast, the UAE ranked second in the list of the largest exporters of goods to Iran after China.

According to Iranian statistics, 793 thousand tons worth $ 1.535 million were imported from Dubai during the same period.

According to Iranian statistics, Tehran imports 10% of all imports from the United Arab Emirates, while exporting about 15% of all its exports through the latter.

For his part, the former chairman of the Iranian-UAE Joint Chamber of Commerce Massoud Daneshmand, expected that the volume of trade exchange between his country and its southern neighbor in the next phase 20 to 25 billion dollars.

Masood Daneshmand said that Iranian capital constitutes 10% of the investments in the UAE.

He pointed out that the current trade exchange between Iran and the UAE ranges between 10 and 15 billion dollars, while the figures were to 30 billion dollars even before the imposition of US sanctions on Iran.

Economic normalization
Observers in Iran point out that trade exchanges between Tehran and Dubai are heading towards normalization after witnessing a lukewarm in recent years, affected by the developments of the Saudi-Emirati war on Yemen and Riyadh broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran, against the backdrop of the raid of angry Iranian protesters at the Saudi embassy in Tehran after the execution of Riyadh. Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in 2016.

An Iranian source, who asked not to be named, said the UAE could no longer export more than 20% of its oil from the port of Fujairah, which meant it had to cooperate with Iran to export its oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Although bilateral exchanges between Iran and the UAE have eased following the return of U.S. sanctions in 2018, the targeting of tankers in the UAE's waters a few months ago has urged Abu Dhabi more than ever to strengthen its ties with Tehran.

The UAE has switched its link to Iran after a rupture that lasted for years, where the UAE Coast Guard Commander Brigadier General Mesbah Al-Ahbabi met with Iranian Border Guard Commander Brigadier General Qasem Rezaei last month.The UAE side spoke of the need for continued coordination between Tehran and Abu Dhabi to ensure the safety of navigation in the region.