South Korea Ships First Humanitarian Trade Goods to Iran

Treatments for genetic diseases worth about US$500,000 were air shipped to Iran on May 29 as the first case of the export of humanitarian goods to Iran that resumed on April 6, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on May 29.

The South Korean government continued close consultations with the United States and Iran in order to facilitate humanitarian trade with Iran with won-currency deposits made by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) at banks in South Korea. As a result of such consultations, the Korean government resumed humanitarian trade with Iran on April 6, which was suspended after the U.S. tightened sanctions on the CBI in September 2019.

The shipment of treatments for genetic diseases to Iran marked the first case of shipment of goods for the recently resumed humanitarian trade and is expected to be followed by exports of medicine and medical equipment worth about US$2 million in June.

In a bid to expand humanitarian trade with Iran, the Korean government has actively carried out activities, including two briefings for Korean exporters, consultations with Iran through such diplomatic channels as the Iranian Embassy in South Korea, meetings with Iranian importers through the Tehran office of the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and acting as a bridge between importers and exporters of the two countries, the ministry said.

Building on the resumption of exports of humanitarian items, the Seoul government will continue consultations with the U.S. and Iran on ways to broaden the scope of trade items to include not only medicine and medical equipment, which are currently the main trade items, but also foods and agricultural products.