MNA:   The governor of West Azarbaijan said on Tuesday that the border crossings of West Azerbaijan with Turkey will reopen for travelers from this Friday.

Mohammad Mehdi Shahriari, governor of West Azerbaijan, said  on Tuesday afternoon,  "Accor­ding to the coordination made with the Minister of Interior, from Friday, October 8, passengers can travel through the border crossing of this province after observing health operating stan­dards and providing results of Covid-19 PCR tests." The governor of West Azarbaijan added, "These border crossings include Bazargan in Mako, Sarv in Urmia, Razi in Khoy and Sanam Bola­ghi in Poldasht and Tamarchin in Piranshahr." Shahriari also noted that trade is continuing as normal at the shared border crossings of the province. West Azerbaijan, in northwest Iran shares a 961-kilometer border with Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iraq. A travel ban was announced for passengers since the outbreak of the Coro­na­virus.

TEHRAN-TIMES:   Iran plans to resume tourist visas by next month after months of suspension amid strict government measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the tourism minister announced on Monday concurrent with the World Tourism Day.

“By the order of President [Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi] the issuance of tourist visas and the flow of fo­reign tourists from land and air borders will be resumed from [the month of] Aban (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) following 19 months of suspension,” Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Mi­nis­ter Ezatollah Zarghami said on Monday. The government approval to resume the issuance of Ira­ni­an tourist visas has been declared to all relevant organizations and agencies, the deputy tourism minister Ali-Asghar Shalbafian said on Monday.   …   …   …

The latest statistics of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) show­s that Iran’s foreign trade volume in the first half of the Iranian year 1400 (Mar.21- September 22) has reached $44.927 bil­lion, that is 48% more than in the first half of 1399. 

The volume of exports of non-oil goods (excluding crude oil, fuel oil and kerosene and also with­out considering exports of luggage trade) in the first six month val­­­ued at $21.806 billion (+61%). Chi­na ($6,569 mil­li­on), Irak (3,840), Tur­key ($2,309 mil­­li­­on),  the United Arab Emi­rates ($2,243 million),  and Afgha­nistan ($ 999 mil­li­on) were Iran’s five ma­jor ex­port destina­tions, which ac­coun­t­ed for 73% in total. 

Iran imported goods valued at $23.121 billion (+37%) in the first six month of the Ira­nian year 1400. Accor­ding­ly, the Uni­­ted Arab Emirates ($ 7,305 mil­lion), China ($ 5,042 million), Tur­key ($ 2,435 million), Germany ($ 905 million) and Switzerland ($ 900 million) together ex­ported  $16.587 billion (72%)  worth of products to the Isla­mic Republic of Iran in the same period.

The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) announced that the inflation rate in the twelve-month period ended on September 22, which marks the end of the sixth Iranian calendar month of Shahrivar, stood at 45.8 percent, rising 0.6 percent from the figure for the twelve-month period ended on the last day of the fifth month.

The Point-to-Point inflation in the Ira­­nian month to September 22, indicated a 43.7% rise com­­pa­red with the similar month of the previous Iranian year. The point-to-point inflation rate was 0.5 percentage point more than the figure for the previous month.