Belarus and Iran are implementing joint projects in 15 sectors

March 26, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Belarus and Iran are implementing projects in 15 sectors in accordance with signed agreements. This was announced today by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Belarus Seyed Abdollah Hosseini at a meeting with the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Alexander Kosinets, BELTA correspondent reports. "Currently, the countries are implementing projects worth $1 billion. Documentation for other agreements totaling about $2 billion is being prepared, which will soon start working in stages," the diplomat said. Belarus and Iran intend to implement joint projects in the fields of trade, machine building, banking, agro-industrial complex, construction, culture, education, and other areas. "Many projects are related to the oil industry. At the same time, some of them are planned to be implemented in the Vitebsk region," said Seyed Abdollah Hosseini. He noted that the political relations between Belarus and Iran are at the highest level, but economic relations, unfortunately, "do not yet match this height." In the diplomat's opinion, this is due to the low awareness of businessmen and the population as a whole about the countries. This is also confirmed by studies involving about 3,000 Belarusians of different ages and 1.1 thousand Iranian businessmen. According to the survey data, 80% of Iranian business representatives have no information about opportunities to work in Belarus, and 90% of surveyed Belarusian residents have minimal information about modern Iran. "Establishing sister city ties between regions and establishing direct contacts between companies will help to correct the situation," the ambassador is confident. The trade turnover between Belarus and Iran in 2009 reached $93.8 million. Belarus exported synthetic fibers, metal products, trucks, tractors, potash fertilizers, and other products to Iran. Components for cars and fruits were supplied from Iran. The volume of Iranian investments in capital construction in Belarus in 2009 amounted to $3.9 million.