Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.26 / Trend F.Mehdi/
Iran plans to invite foreign investors to participate in establishing industrial parks in the country, IRIB quoted Iranian deputy industry minister Fakhrollah Molaei as saying.
The investors will be also urged to invest in completing semi-finished projects which have progressed 50 per cent, he added.
There are 321 semi-finished industrial projects identified so far where 40 billion rials (about $3.3 million) has been invested, he noted.
On Monday, the Mehr News Agency quoted the Iranian President's science and technology deputy, Nasrin Soltankhah, as saying that foreign companies can establish branches in Iranian science and technology parks.
She made the announcement whilst attending an international exhibition on advanced technologies in Tehran, adding that high-tech companies from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine attended the exhibition.
She referred to sanctions as a means for the country to showcase its capabilities, saying that Iran has made significant progress in technological fields.
On January 18, IRNA quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying science production in Iran is growing at a fast pace, seven-fold during the past seven years.
In the Iranian year 1384 (ended in March 2006),the country had a share of 0.3 per cent of science production in the world he said, adding that the figure is currently around three per cent, showing a seven-fold growth.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has ranked 17th in terms of science production in 2012, according to the latest statistics which were released by the Scopus database.
According to the statistics, Iran produced 34,155 articles in 2012, which gained the country a position of being the world's 17th in science production and fixed its top position in the region above Turkey, Press TV reported.
In September 2012, the head of the Organisation for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran Behrouz Alishiri said that foreign investment plans worth as much as $10 billion are expected to be transacted by Iran during the current Iranian calendar year which ends on March 20.
Foreign investment plans in Iran amounted to $4.3 billion last year, showing a 27 per cent growth compared to the previous one, Alishiri added.
Iran needs up to $400 billion in direct foreign investment to materialise its objective of an eight per cent economic growth, he added.
Over the next five years, the government will need new sources of capital sourced through the input of national and international private finance, Alishiri said.
He said in October 2011 that the growth of direct foreign investment in Iran ranks amongst the highest in the world. Despite global economic sanctions, more than 400 foreign companies are now directly investing in Iran.