THE Federal government has attributed the reason for the very low volume of trade between the country and Iran to the production of similar product which is oil, just as it disclosed that Iran's transaction with Nigeria as at 2005 stood at N75 million while that of Nigeria is put at N311 million.

According to the government, the level of trade between the two countries is quite discouraging because before now, the countries do not have any knowledge about each other in the areas of trade, commerce and industry, except social, politics and religion.

Speaking in Abuja when a delegation of Iranian businessmen paid him a visit in his office, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Achike Udenwa called on the visiting team to take advantage of the Free Trade Zones in the country to begin the process of manufacturing rather than focus on trading with Nigeria alone where they could also export manufactured goods to their country using Nigeria's environment.

According to him, there are great opportunities in the area of Solid Minerals, energy, power, Agriculture, among others where they could tap from especially against the backdrop that there was still room for alternative energy sources. The Minister who noted that Nigeria is a safe country for investment and a very good market for their products, stressed that the visit would open up new chapter for Nigeria and Iran..

Earlier in his remarks, the head of Delegation, Hatame Sadedi noted that the visit was aimed at strengthening the existing bilateral relationship between the two countries especially to discover areas of common interest in Commerce and trade also stressed that the relationship would help boost the economy as well as grow the economies of both countries.