China remains Iran's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China has remained Iran's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years as of 2022, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China-Iran trade totaled 15.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, up 7 percent year on year, Shu Jueting, a spokesperson for the ministry, told a press conference on Thursday.

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi was on a three-day state visit to China starting on Feb. 14.

During President Raisi's visit to China, China and Iran exchanged in-depth views on promoting bilateral economic and trade relations and reached a series of positive results, Shu said.

"In the next step, we will work with our Iran counterpart to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in the economic and trade field, deepen pragmatic cooperation in trade and other fields, import more Iranian high-quality products, and continue to carry out cooperation in building the Belt and Road Initiative," said Shu.

Shu said that China would strengthen multilateral cooperation between the two countries under the frameworks, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and inject new growth impetus into deepening the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership.