Iranian Official says Iran Owns 41% of World Carpe

Tehran, Iran, October 2, 2006--Head of East Azarbaijan province Commerce Department, Sadeq Najafi, said on Sunday that 41% of the world's $2.2 billion carpet trade is controlled by Iran, adding that his province accounts for 35 percent of the carpets annually exported by Iran, according to the Fars News Agency. He also pointed out that over 66 million dollars worth of hand-woven carpets were exported from the East Azerbaijan province during the last 6 months. The official stated that the products of no country can compete with the hand-woven carpets of his province, reminding that East Azarbaijan has ranked the first in carpet design and quality in the world. Najafi said that 2,460 square meters of carpet woven in his province were exported to UAE, Britain, Turkey, Germany, the US, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Canada and Syria in the said period. He asserted that 70 percent of the target carpet markets do not have any proper knowledge on Iranian hand-woven carpets, particularly those woven in the East Azarbaijan province. The trade official urged the need for efforts to institutionalize the culture of publicity and advertisement among provincial carpet exporters. To conclude his words, he said, "Special insurance services have been availed to 6,000 provincial carpet weavers since the beginning of the current year."