Hamid Melikoglu, Voice of America, April 8, 2022
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| Younes Jaele, Head of the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce |
Younes Jaele, the head of the Tabriz Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, stated that the financial resources of East Azerbaijan province are insufficient relative to its population.
According to a report published by ILNA news agency, Jaele made these remarks during a provincial investment and trade planning meeting.
The official noted that the private sector in the province faces challenges such as inadequate energy infrastructure, procedural obstacles to investment, and limited financial resources.
Jaele had previously criticized bureaucratic difficulties that slow down the process of increasing private sector investments in the province.
Highlighting that the province’s share of national financial resources is 2.6% while its population constitutes 4.8% of the country, he argued that this allocation is inadequate and does not correspond to the needs of the province’s residents.
He also mentioned that members of the province’s private sector and the Chamber of Commerce paid 6 trillion tomans in taxes last year, with the amount projected to rise to 11 trillion tomans next year. Referring to the 600 billion euros in revenue generated by the Copper Company, he criticized the allocation of its tax revenues to the city of Kerman.
The head of the Chamber emphasized that due to sanctions against Russia, the country now requires various products, stating, “Unfortunately, due to transit problems, our traders are unable to take advantage of this golden opportunity.”
Jaele pointed out that the province faces challenges in exporting its products, explaining that the primary issue is the lack of production of high-quality goods and products.
“For example, we currently have approximately 600,000 tons of apples that are not being exported because there is no plan to produce suitable refrigeration units,” he said. He also criticized the lack of technical expertise in the province to “convert 600,000 tons of apples into $1 billion in investment.”
“In the past, we lived under the illusion of Tabriz being the city of pioneers, but in reality, our position has always been declining,” he remarked.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Təbriz Ticarət palatasının rəhbəri vilayətin maliyyə resurslarının az olduğunu deyib