Taipei, June 3 (CNA) The time is not right for Taiwan and Iran to develop closer relations, despite a strong desire by both sides to do so, a Taiwan foreign ministry official said Thursday.
Taiwan and Iran both intend to boost their already strong trade relationship but "the time is not right" to take the bilateral relations to the next level, said Lin Jinn-jong, director-general of the Department of West Asian Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), at a press briefing.
As the international community has been contemplating sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear energy policies, "it's not appropriate at this moment to step up exchanges (with Iran) , " Lin said.
On May 21, the Associated Press reported that Taiwan had turned down a request by Iran to open a "diplomatic mission" in Taiwan. Taiwan's Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang rebutted the report May 25, saying that his ministry has not received any request from Iran to open a trade office in Taiwan.
According to Lin, Iran is Taiwan's third largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the annual two-way trade volume is valued at a peak of US$5.6 billion.
"However, the real trade volume could exceed that figure because some deals were done via the Dubai Free Zone," Lin said.
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council established an office in Tehran in 1992.
According to Bureau of Foreign Trade statistics, the total trade volume between Taiwan and Iran, Taiwan's 25th-largest trading partner, was US$2.5 billion in 2009. Most of Taiwan's imports, valued at US$1.98 billion, were petroleum products.
(By Chris Wang) enditem /pc