TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran has set up special showrooms for the submission of handicrafts orders by foreign trade delegations, an official with the country’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) announced.

“We have launched and developed showrooms in the handicrafts department with the aim of receiving trade delegations,” Pouya Mahmoudian, the director-general of ICHTO’s Handicraft Exports Department, told the Tasnim News Agency on Friday.

“Trade delegations can have a half a day visit to these showrooms and place their orders for the handicrafts exhibited there,” she added.

The Department has also made arrangements with Iran’s Chamber of Commerce to send foreign delegations to visit these showrooms, Mahmoudian noted.

Iran has a long tradition of producing artisanal goods including Persian carpets, ceramics, copperware, brassware, glass, leather goods, textiles and wooden artifacts including wood inlaying --an art which consists of carving on inlaid pieces of wood and creating embossed designs on them.

In 2012, Iran’s handicrafts exports amounted to more than $700 million in value.

ICHTO Chief Massoud Soltanifar had earlier noted that the country, as one of the three global handicrafts hubs, holds world’s first rank in many handicrafts such as carpet-weaving, woodcarving, and wood inlaying.

By Tasnim News Agency