TEHRAN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Russia are holding talks to remove obstacles for the exports of Iran's handwoven carpets to Russia, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday.
Head of Iran's National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar and Head of Russia-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Obidnov held a meeting here to discuss the matter on Sunday.
During the meeting, Obidnov referred to the Russian's interest in the Iranian handwoven carpets, and said that the two sides will discuss ways to remove the problems of the carpet exports to Russia.
He expressed the hope that the first exhibition of Iranian handwoven carpet would be held in Russia later this year.
On Wednesday, the Financial Tribune daily reported that nearly 350 million U.S. dollars worth of Iranian handwoven carpets were exported in the past Iranian year ending on March 20, up 27 percent year on year.
More than 84 million dollars' worth of carpets were exported to the United States, up from 2.7 million dollars the year before, according to Hamid Kargar.
Iran's carpet exports were hit hard by sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear program over the past years, as the United States, the biggest importer of Iran's carpets, banned the import of them, among other products, in September 2010.
