China and Iran release a strong signal to strengthen economic and trade cooperation

Iranian President Leahy recently visited China. During the period, China and Iran exchanged in-depth views on promoting the development of bilateral economic and trade relations and reached a series of positive results - signing more than 20 cooperation agreements including crisis management, tourism, communication and information technology, environment, international trade, intellectual property, agriculture, export, medical care, media, sports and cultural heritage.
Industry insiders believe that the above achievements release a strong signal for both sides to strengthen economic and trade cooperation and will effectively promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Iran to a new level.
The comprehensive cooperation plan is expected to speed up the implementation
It is reported that one of the main purposes of Leahy's visit is to promote the implementation of the comprehensive cooperation plan signed between China and Iran in 2021, especially in the economic and trade field.
Ding Long, a professor at the Middle East Research Institute of Shanghai Foreign Studies University, told the International Business News that although this was the first visit to China by Leslie during his term, in fact, the high-level contacts between China and Iran have always "kept pace" in recent years, especially under the leadership of the head of state's diplomacy, the China-Iraq relations have shown a comprehensive development trend.
In 2022, the trade volume between China and Iran reached 15.8 billion US dollars, up 7% year on year. China has become Iran's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years. Lu Jin, an expert on Iran at the West Asia and Africa Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the reporter of the International Business Daily that for many years, Iran has been an important trading partner of China in the Middle East, the source of crude oil imports, the project contracting market and the investment destination. China is Iran's largest trading partner, the largest export market for oil and non-oil products and an important source of foreign capital. In recent years, the two sides have given full play to their complementary advantages in economy and trade, and carried out a series of cooperation in transportation infrastructure through the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", making positive contributions to the economic and social development of the two countries and regions.
"In recent years, China-Iraq trade has advanced in interaction and achieved good results, but objectively speaking, its volume is not large, and it is not a heavy weight compared with the trade volume of US $230 billion between China and the members of the Gulf Arab States Cooperation Council. In order to further strengthen trade cooperation, we need to accelerate the implementation of the China-Iraq comprehensive cooperation plan in the future." Sun Degang, director of the Middle East Research Center of Fudan University, told the reporter of the International Business Daily.
Sun Degang analyzed that in the field of economy and trade, the biggest feature of the two countries is strong complementarity. "China has a complete industrial system, which can help Iran to upgrade its technology in energy exploitation, infrastructure, agriculture, etc.; Iran's oil and gas reserves are among the top in the world, while China is the world's largest energy importer, and the two countries have a large space for cooperation in energy supply and demand".
In addition, Lu Jin said that in recent years, Iran has made great efforts to develop manufacturing and knowledge-based economy and attached importance to exchanges with China in the fields of technology and science. The two sides have broad prospects for cooperation in the fields of 5G network communication infrastructure construction, electronic communication equipment, artificial intelligence and satellite communications.
Avoiding risks and consolidating the foundation of economic and trade cooperation
In addition to promoting the implementation of the China-Iraq comprehensive cooperation plan, promoting high-level exchanges between the two countries, increasing political mutual trust and consolidating the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries are another major focus of Lech's visit.
"In the complex international situation, both China and Iran have realistic needs to deepen cooperation, but they also face multiple risks and challenges." Sun Degang said that in terms of political risks, due to the strengthening of the "long-arm jurisdiction" of the United States and the West over Iran, there are many interference factors for China to promote cooperation with Iran; In addition, the relationship between Arab countries and Iran is relatively complex, which also brings some interference to the economic and trade cooperation between China and Iran.
In terms of financial risks, Sun Degang said: "The most important problem is that Iran is excluded from SWIFT (International Fund Clearing System), which leads to its financial payment being unable to meet the international standards, and brings certain challenges to the cooperation between Chinese and Iranian enterprises."
Ding Long said that despite many challenges, China and Iran have strong political mutual trust and cooperation will and strong economic complementarity. Leahy's visit showed his firm determination to "look east". Under the new situation, the two sides will jointly study how to deepen cooperation, avoid risks and promote China-Iraq practical cooperation to achieve stability and long-term development.
Facing challenges, opportunities are on the side. Sun Degang believes that in the future, China-Iran economic and trade cooperation is expected to achieve greater development under the multilateral platform. Before this visit to China, Leahy signed an order demanding the implementation of the law on Iran's accession to the SCO. China and Iran can strengthen coordination and cooperation under the framework of the SCO, which will help Iran successfully complete the docking with the "the Belt and Road" initiative. At the regional level, China and the Arab countries are working together to build a China-Arab community of shared future, which is conducive to easing the political relations between Iran and the Arab countries in the Gulf, and promoting political mutual trust through economic and trade exchanges. In addition, Iran's withdrawal from SWIFT has created conditions for promoting the cross-border settlement of RMB between China and Iran.
"I believe that under the joint leadership of the leaders of the two countries, the trade volume between China and Iran is expected to exceed US $30 billion in the near future." Sun Degang is confident about this.