October 14, 2016
President Rohani last week visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand on a trip that appeared focused on boosting Iran’s non-oil exports.
On his successive stops, Rohani announced plans to sextuple trade with Vietnam, double trade with Malaysia and double trade with Thailand.
But Thai Commerce Minister Apiradee Tantraporn and Gholam-Hossain Shafii, chairman of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, who was on the trip with Rohani, both foresaw bilateral Iran-Thailand trade soaring 10-fold.
And Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mahmud Vaezi spoke of two-way trade with Malaysia rising five-fold in just two years.
The key point, however, is that trade with all three countries approaches inconsequential so that tripling and quintupling trade wouldn’t be a barnburner. Furthermore, these numbers are just targets; actual trade figures will depend on the decisions of individual buyers.
Currently, two-way trade with Vietnam totals $350 million, with Malaysia $500 million and with Thailand $310 million.
Thailand’s main goal for the visit was believed to be the resumption of rice sales to Iran. It is the world’s second largest rice exporter and lost the Iran market during sanctions. Thailand also hopes to lure even more Iranian visitors to its vacation hot spots, which overflow with booze and prostitutes, providing a dramatic change for Iranians.
Malaysia was the sole Muslim-majority country Rohani visited. The Iranian news coverage of the visit never mentioned the anti-Shiite rage that has surged through Malaysia in recent years, prompting the imposition of legal restrictions on Shiism.