With sanctions in place against Iran by many western countries, the tourism industry has been selected as a top priority in cooperation between Iran and the International Trade Centre (ITC) for development of exports, Vali Teymouri, Iran’s deputy tourism chief announced on Wednesday.

As per the meetings held to prepare Iran’s national exports strategy plan, four sectors have been selected as priorities in cooperation with European counterparts, among which tourism stands at the top,” Teymouri said in a meeting with ITC representatives and experts from Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and those from Iranian universities and the private sector.

In the meeting, associate adviser and export strategy and competitiveness at ITC, Alexandra Golovko, introduced some ITC case studies, the report said.

Since the UNWTO General Assembly in Colombia in September 2015, ITC and UNWTO have entered a formal strategic partnership to build upon the two organizations’ resources and competencies and to share perspectives in the process of rethinking a joint approach to Aid for Trade (AfT) in tourism.

Established in 1964, the International Trade Centre is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. It is a development agency that is fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).