FNA - Iran's Vice-President Sorena Sattari announced that the country's knowledge-based companies have sold over $20bln worth of their products in the past Iranian year (ended on March 20).

"4,300 knowledge-based companies are active in the country" and they sold over $20bln worth of goods last year, Sattari told reporters in the Western city of Yasouj on Moday.

He added that the number stood at nearly $15bln the year before.

Sattari also underscored plans to increase the production qualitatively and quantitatively, specially in the production of drugs and medical equipment, to confront sanctions.

In relevant remarks on Saturday, a senior official said that the Iranian knowledge-based companies were in good conditions in manufacturing and exports of their products, adding that they were also able to bypass the US sanctions.

"Our knowledge-based firms are in good conditions in manufacturing products and they have exported their products in the fields of medicine, medical equipment, IT and nanotechnology," Head of the Presiding Board of Assembly of Knowledge-Based Formations Afshin Kolahi told FNA.

He downplayed the US embargos against Iran, saying, "We have a plan to bypass the sanctions and we can revive our contracts and do the job. Bypassing sanctions in the knowledge-based field is easier because they cannot prevent activities of knowledge-based companies."