Iran to set up it’s first-ever apparel industrial park in cooperation with public, private and cooperatives sectors. An initiative aimed at meeting domestic demand and boosting exports. A multilateral memorandum of understanding was signed on Wednesday.

The signatories were Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization, Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social welfare, Cooperative Investment Guarantee Fund, Iran’s Clothing Association, and Tose’e Ta’avon Bank.

The apparel industrial estate is to be built near Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport in a 190-hectare area (extendable to 300 hectares), with easy access to subway, highway and airlines, said Chairman of Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization Ali Yazdani at the MoU signing ceremony.

The designing of the first phase of this industrial park is complete and the second phase is under development. The park will host over 300 apparel production units along with additional service providers, including hotels, training institutes and design centers with the participation of brands from Italy among other well-known countries [in apparel industry].

According to Yazdani, the infrastructures of this industrial park will be built by the public sector while the private sector is in charge of developing the trading and manufacturing spaces.

The area dedicated for each service and production unit is projected to be 3,000-5,000 square meters. On the whole, an area of 1 million square meters would be developed with an investment of 30 trillion rials ($791.139 million).

Yazdani noted that investors from Italy, China, South Korea and Turkey have already shown interest in this project.

According to deputy minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare, Hamid Kalantari, who was also present at the signing ceremony, the apparel industry has the highest job creation potential among all industries in Iran.

Another MoU was signed on Wednesday between Yazdani and Mehdi Hossein-Nejad, the managing director of Cooperative Investment Guarantee Fund, and Mohammad Hosein Moghiseh, the managing director of Investment Guarantee Fund for small- and medium-sized enterprises, to support players in industrial townships, areas and special economic zones, and develop joint cooperation.

The accord entails promoting domestic production, strengthening domestic production chains with the aim of producing for exports, using facilities and capacities efficiently, assisting the cooperatives sector and active small- and medium-sized entities in industrial towns and special economic zones, especially export zones, via the funds’ services such as letters of guarantee.

Industrial towns or parks may contain oil refineries, ports, warehouses, distribution centers, chemical plants, plastic manufacturers, airports, food and beverage producers and steel manufacturers, to name a few.

Some industrial parks offer incentives for businesses to locate there, such as tax exemptions.

Tehran Apparel Producers and Sellers Union recently launched a campaign called “I Proudly Wear Iranian Clothes” to support the production of Iranian clothing.

According to the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange, apparel tops the list of goods smuggled into Iran.

Textile, Apparel and Leather Industry Organization, affiliated to the Industries, Mining and Trade Ministry, had announced that about 90% of foreign clothings are smuggled into the Iranian market.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration to tackle the staggering rate of smuggling in the apparel market recently banned any commercial import of clothing by individuals.