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Italian companies ready to make investments in Iran

Business Materials 19 April 2021 15:06 (UTC +04:00)
Italian companies ready to make investments in Iran

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 19

By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:

More than 100 Italian companies have declared their readiness to make investments in various fields in Iran, the head of Iran and Italy Chamber of Commerce Ahmad Pourfallah told ILNA, Trend reports.

Pourfallah noted that many Italian companies are ready to operate in Iran. Representatives of these companies have announced that they will return to Iran after the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the lifting of sanctions.

The official added that Iran has the opportunity to attract investment from Italy. However, a number of problems need to be addressed. For example, if sanctions are lifted and Iran does not join the FATF, it will not be able to take advantage of the opportunities. Therefore, along with infrastructure, transparency must be created.

“During the sanctions, a number of Italian oil customers in Iran turned to Algeria and Libya. However, when Iran returns to the oil market, minimum half of Italian customers will start buying Iranian oil again,” he said.

According to Pourfallah, despite many restrictions (sanctions, coronavirus pandemic, and so on), the value of Iran's trade turnover with Italy is close to $1 billion. Iran still maintains relations with Italian small and medium-sized companies.

The objectives of FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory, and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

During the recent FATF meeting, Iran has been warned that it may be added to the list of non-cooperative countries within three months if it does not completely fulfill the FATF requirements. Iran fulfilled 37 of 41 FATF requirements. The remaining four requirements refer to the legislative field.

The amendments to the Counter-Terrorist Financing Act, Anti-Money Laundering Act, Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo), and International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) were prepared by the Iranian government and sent to the parliament.

Although the four conventions have been approved and sent to the Expediency Council of Iran, the CFT and Palermo conventions have not yet been ratified by the Council.

FATF was established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 Group to combat money laundering. FATF has 37 members and its secretariat is in Paris.

Iran was included in the FATF blacklist in 2007. The anti-Tehran steps have been taken since 2009. Thus, the countries were cautious in their financial and banking transactions with Iran.

Taking reciprocal steps against Iran through diplomatic steps has been postponed since 2016. FATF included Iran on the blacklist again on Feb. 21, 2020.

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