Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.9
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran will use billions of dollars of Chinese finance in development plans, Iranian first vice president Es'haq Jahangiri said.
Iranian and Chinese presidents are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the 14th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which will be held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan from September 11 to 12.
Iran's $22 billion worth of assets has been frozen in China. The country is not able to transfer its exported oil money into the country due to international sanctions.
Chinese companies have agreed to invest 2-3 times the sum in Iranian projects.
Asadollah Asgaroladi, the chairman of Iran-China joint chamber of commerce, has said that 80 projects have been defined to use the Chinese finance, including the construction of oil refineries, roads, power plants, and airports.
Earlier, Iranian media outlets quoted Speaker Ali Larijani as saying he has negotiated with Chinese officials to finance some $20 billion in development projects in Iran using frozen oil money during his last visit to Beijing in October.
Iranian Tasnim News Agency reported onApril 21 that Iranian Minister of the Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia has called for establishing special trade relations between Tehranand Beijing.
Tayebnia expressed hope that Chinese businesspersons will allocate a significant portion of their overseas investment to Iran.
In recent years Iran-China trade has grown steadily commensurate withChina's growing reliance on foreign energy and Western companies leaving the Iranian market.
Iran exported $7.432 billion worth of non-oil exports including condensate to China during the last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), while importing $9.664 billion worth of goods from China.
The figures indicate increase by 34.8 percent and 18.11 percent compared to the preceding year respectively.
Edited by CN