Uzbek Envoy Calls for Increasing Trade Volume with Iranian Port.

Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Iran lham Akramov said on Monday that his county is willing to increase the volume of its trade transactions with Behshahr’s Amirabad port and special economic zone in the Northern Iranian province of Golestan, AVA Diplomatic reports.

Akramov made the remarks in a visit to Amirabad which is the biggest port in Northern Iran.

“These changes and developments are very eye-catching and we hope that Uzbek investors and traders can have more trade cooperation with this port as a result of future talks,” the Uzbek ambassador said, lauding the changes and development of Amirabad compared with he had seen during his previous visit to the port.

On Saturday in a meeting with Mazandaran province’s exporters and executive managers in the Northern Iranian city of Sari, Akramov described Tehran and Tashkent as two major trade partners, and voiced his country’s readiness for enhancement of economic ties with Iran.

“Iran is Uzbekistan’s tenth trade partner,” Akramov said at the Saturday meeting.

He said that Tehran and Tashkent have witnessed considerable growth in trade transactions in the past 30 years.

Iran and Uzbekistan have recently enhanced efforts to boost political, economic and cultural ties and cooperation.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov in a message to his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in May underscored his country’s commitment to further expand the relations between Tehran and Tashkent.

Karimov congratulated the 20th anniversary of Iran-Uzbekistan ties in a message released on Wednesday in response to a congratulation message earlier sent to him by President Ahmadinejad.

“Iran-Uzbekistan relations in all fields, including the political, economic and cultural fields have been expanding during the past two decades; Tashkent is committed to develop its relations with Tehran based on the mutual respect and for the interest of the two countries,” the message said.