First shipment of dairy products from Iran to Qatar

CAIRO – 8 August 2017: Iran shipped 20 tons of canned milk to Qatar. This was part of the rising trend of improving economic relations between the two countries to counter imposed sanctions on Qatar.

In June of this year several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain set severe sanctions against Qatar and stopped all economic and political relations between their governments and Qatar’s until they fulfill certain demands. One of their demands is for Qatar to sever all its ties with Iran.

According to an Iranian television report, this deal with Qatar is set to bring an estimated $17,000 to Iran annually, and more dairy products are being shipped to Qatar later this year.

Iran’s ambassador in Qatar, Mohamed Ali Sobhani, stated that he thought this was a perfect opportunity to increase economic trade between Iran and Qatar due to their maritime boundaries and common airspace.

There were no problems regarding shipment procedure. Sobhani stated, “Shipments go to Qatar by air and by sea, and there is no problem.”

Other problems, including issuance of visas to traders, were resolved during previous meeting of officials from both countries.

Earlier this week, a trilateral meeting was held between Qatar’s minister of Economy and Commerce, Ahmed bin Jassim Al-Thani, Iran’s Information and Communications Technology minister, Mahmoud Vaezi, and Turkey’s minister of Economy, Nihat Zeybekci, in Tehran in order to discuss furthering their economic relations and possible trade routes between Turkey to Qatar, passing through Iran.

Qatari-Turkish relations also improved since the sanctions were imposed.
“Turkish economy can satisfy all the needs of Qatar, from food to tourism, and from construction to energy,” said the Turkish minister.

Turkish and Qatari military did their exercises together Monday morning in a show of strategic alliance between the two countries. Turkish military forces were sent to Doha after an agreement that was signed in 2014 was sped up in June after Qatar’s crisis.