Talking about his tour of the UAE, Manouchehr Mottaki said," We held talks with the Emirate officials on transfer of Iranian and Turkmen gas to that country."

"The Emirate president has officially invited his Iranian counterpart to visit the UAE, which is considered an important issue after around 30 years", he said.

Referring to the trade ties between Iran and UAE, the minister said, "The volume of trade between the two countries, which was over USD 9b in 2005, exceeded USD 10b in 2006."

"UAE accounted for some some 28 percent of Iran"s non-oil export in the last Iranian year ", he added.

Mottaki also said his tour of Oman was aimed at holding the 11th Iran-Oman joint commission of economic cooperation.

"Cooperation in the petrochemical section as well as gas transfer were high on the agenda of our talks with Omani officials", he said.

The foreign minister also disclosed that a joint investment organization would be set up between Iran and Oman, probably in a third country.

"The two countries have agreed on giving political passports the privilege of visa exemption", he said.

The minister estimated that the volume of trade between Iran and Oman was at USD 200m, saying that the figure has to be raised given the existing capacities.

PIN/PRESSTV