In January this year, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed urged the international community to lift all economic sanctions against Iran. The lifting of international trade sanctions on Iran will lead to a regional trading boom in the textile industry, according to an official with traders’ association Texmas.

An agreement to relieve sanctions was struck in November last year between Iran and six world powers, including the US, China, Russia and Britain, which came into effect on January 20 this year. The accord saw the Islamic Republic curb parts of its nuclear programme in exchange for access to $4.2bn in foreign exchange and some relief from sanctions on gold, petrochemicals and vehicles.

According to secretary of Texmas, the Dubai-based traders’ association, Ram Bhagchandani, if the sanctions were lifted completely the textile business could double in the emirate.

There are a lot of sanctions in Iran and a lot of businesses were affected by that. Once Iran opens up then their trade will almost double as Iran has been a very major buyer for them.

Iran is not just a neighbour of the UAE but Iran remain to be a major trading partners, despite overall trade between the two, excluding oil, falling from AED12.3bn ($3.35bn) between January and June 2012 to AED10.8bn in the same period last year as sanctions took their toll.