Araz News via trend:Iranian Minister of Cooperative, Labor, and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei has expressed hope that the country would be able to import water from Georgia.

There are many water resources in Georgia which would be influential in tackling part of Iran’s water shortage as well as restoring Lake Urmia, he said during a meeting of the Iran-Georgia joint economic committee.

During the meeting, Rabiei and Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, also signed a memorandum of understanding, Fars news agency reported May 19.

“We are happy that the Iran-Georgia joint committee has become operational,” Rabiei said.

He also pointed out that transiting Iranian gas via Georgian soil is possible, adding that doing so will benefit regional countries.

Kvirikashvili held a meeting on May 18 with Iranian Deputy Labor Minister Mohammad Taqi Hosseini where they discussed ways to boost trade ties between the two countries, especially in the energy sector.

The Iranian official said that bilateral trade between the two countries stands at $200 million annually, and there is potential to increase it.

Georgia was the 30th leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015, according to the Iran Customs Administration.

Iran exported $97.4 million worth of non-oil goods to Georgia and imported $50.4 million of non-oil goods from the country.

By Mehdi Sepahvand

Reprinted from trend