TEHRAN, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) hosted here a conference on Iran-South Korea business opportunities, Tehran Times daily reported on Thursday.
Iranian and South-Korean small and medium-sized companies can continue and improve their cooperation even under the current U.S. sanctions against the Islamic republic, Pedram Soltani, ICCIMA vice president, said in the opening ceremony of the conference.
"Iran-South Korea trade volume in 2017 reached 8 billion U.S. dollars, decreasing down to 3.7 billion dollars in 2018 so far," said Hossein Tanhaie, head of Iran-South Korea Joint Chamber of Commerce.
"Trade transactions between the two sides have dropped due to U.S. sanctions against Iran which have created some difficulties in transportation sector," Tanhaie said."However, the obstacles can be overcome by the help of Europeans."
On Tuesday, South Korean Ambassador to Iran, Ryu Jeong-hyun, also expressed his country's tendency for expansion of all-out ties with Iran.
A clearing house, known as a Special Purpose Vehicle, which is designed to allow European companies to bypass the U.S. sanctions, is due to be set up by the European Union within the next few months, according to the western media.
U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the Iranian 2015 international nuclear deal in May and reimposed U.S. sanctions on Iran which had been lifted under the landmark nuclear accord.
