Tehran, Iran, June 11
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Iran and Austria are going to boost their trade turnover from $400 million to $5 billion, according to Iranian Minister of Economy Ali Tayyebnia.
Speaking in a meeting with Austrian Minister of Finance Hans Jorg Schelling, Tayyebnia said the two countries have reached agreements on avoiding extra tariffs, conducting customs cooperation, encouraging foreign investment, and boosting banking ties in order to meet that goal, Mehr news agency reported June 11.
He stated that the two countries can boost their trade turnover to the target amount in three years.
Schelling is in Iran leading a high-ranking economic delegation and is slated to meet with heads of the Central Bank of Iran, Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade, as well as Ministry of Petroleum in the coming days.
In November 2016, Helmut Steurer, the head of the Chamber of Commerce of Austria's Vorarlberg region, said key banks such as Bank Austria and Raiffeisen Bank International would be specifically interested in cooperating with their Iranian partners.
Austrian companies became the first Western firms to put down concrete stakes in the Islamic Republic when Tehran reached a nuclear accord, signing a number of agreements with Iranian partners in September 2015.
Austrian businesses that won deals in Tehran in 2015 included car parts, information technology and engineering sealed agreements worth €80 million ($89 million).
The level of trade between the two countries stood at €225 million in 2013 when Iran was under sanctions.