Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
A senior economist says the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini's agenda in visiting Tehran was cementing the nuclear agreement, achieved on July 14.
Mogherini started her visit to Iran on July 28 and met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani.
The visit comes two weeks after the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (US, Russia, China, France, UK , and Germany) was concluded in Vienna.
"Mogherini is visiting Iran for three main reasons. First and foremost to cement the Agreement by showing continued interest in keeping the channels open and active with Tehran as a means to lend further support for the deal. In this context, the EU envoy is conveying to the critics of the Agreement inside Iran that the EU fully supports the agreement," Mehrdad Emadi consultant at the U.K.-based Betamatrix International Consultancy told Trend July 29.
Emadi says that the second item on the agenda seems to be an implied message to the business community in the EU that the horizon for doing business with Iran is bright and European firms are well placed to enter into negotiations with their Iranian counterparts.
EU has lost its place significantly in Iran's trade turnover during the last decade.
According to Iranian Custom's reports, Europe had about 50 percent share in Iran's imports in 2005, as well as some 15 percent of Iran's total non-oil exports. However, Iran-EU trade has been almost halved during the last 10 years.
Emadi said, "The third aspect of the visit is the message to Iran's Arab neighbors that the EU considers this agreement a step toward facilitating better relationships between Iran and its neighbors."
A day before arriving in Iran, EU foreign policy chief visited Saudi Arabia.
"The downsizing of Iran's Nuclear Program should alleviate most of the concerns of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and North Africa about the alleged ambitions of Tehran for a hegemonic domination of the region. In fact, the U.S. President's comment on the small military budget of Iran relative to its Arab neighbors clearly articulates this message, which is being sent from officials of both the United States of America and the European Union at the highest levels", Emadi believes.
I expect Mogherini has succeeded in highlighting the intent of her visit both inside Iran and in the region.
Edited by CN