Rezvanifar told Fars News Agency that the figure shows a 5% increase compared to the same period last year.

As for Iran’s business partners, Rezvanifar said there has been no change in this respect and China, Iraq, the UAE, Turkey and India are the largest markets for Iran’s exports while the most important sources of Iran’s imports are the UAE, China, Turkey, Germany and India.

He also spoke about the transit of goods from the country in the first half of this year, saying the volume of goods transported during the period was 7.7 million tons, which shows an 8.2% increase compared to the same period last year.

In July, Iran officially became a full-fledged member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which accounts for 40 percent of the world's population and 28 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).

Iran’s membership was announced by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he headlined the SCO leaders’ summit held virtually Tuesday.

"Member states stressed the historical significance of the admission of Iran to the SCO as a full member state," according to the declaration of the SCO Heads of State Council.

The SCO is a Central Asian political, economic, security and defense organization, which is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population.

It was founded by China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 2001, and currently forms the world's biggest regional market with eight official members, and three observer states. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.

Iran has had an observer status at the organization, and in mid-September 2022, it signed a Memorandum of Obligations to become a permanent member of the SCO.