Tehran, Mar 16 (IANS): Iran will export 45,000 cars to Belarus in three years, the Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade said.

It was stipulated in an agreement signed between the two countries during Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's recent state visit to Tehran, official news agency IRNA quoted Reza Fatemi-Amin on Wednesday as saying on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting.

The agreement is worth nearly $450 million, said the Iranian minister, adding it will increase the volume of annual trade between the two countries, which now stands at $16 million, Xinhua news agency reported.

During his meeting with Belarusian Minister of Industry Rogozhnik Alexander Nikolaevich on Monday, the two sides discussed trade through barter, said Fatemi-Amin, adding both countries' financial infrastructure were prepared "to a great extent" to strengthen bilateral trade.

Nikolaevich is a member of the high-ranking delegation that was led by Lukashenko during his two-day trip to Iran. During the trip, which kicked off on Sunday, Iran and Belarus signed a roadmap for expanding their comprehensive cooperation as well as seven cooperation agreements in the fields of trade, transportation, agriculture, culture and transfer of convicts.

Iran has exported cars to a number of countries, including Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In November 2022, the country signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Russia to export cars. The MoU is estimated to worth $300 million, according to semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran has also started exporting cars to Venezuela, Iran's Labour News Agency wrote in November last year.