Baku, Azerbaijan, April 24
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Chinese investors are keen to implement energy projects in Iran's northern Aras Free Trade and Industrial Zone (AFZ).
A Chinese delegation of investors, who are active in energy field, arrived in the region to study construction of a power plant, Iranian IRNA news agency reported on April 24.
The Chinese delegation has met with the local officials and talked on the potential of energy supply and trade in the zone.
The deputy head of the AFZ Organization Iraj Hatami said that some 180 industrial, commercial and tourism units are under construction in the zone, adding that when all of them are completed, the current energy production capacity will not be enough to cover the demands.
The Aras Free Trade and Industrial Zone is located 137 km from Tabriz, neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia is one of the major academic and industrial hubs of Iran. Jolfa, the center of the Zone, has a century old background in international commercial and customs activities.
The zone includes 51,000 hectares of land.
Iranian officials have repeatedly invited the foreign investors to investment in the AFZ.
Earlier in March, Iran's deputy foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour said that the country welcomes foreign investment in the Aras Free Trade Zone, remarking that the zone enjoys good potentials for investment.