Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 9
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran hopes Japan would regain its share of Iranian energy projects after sanctions on the Islamic Republic are lifted, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
"Before the imposition of the sanctions, Japan was one of the most important investors in Iran's oil and projects. We hope that the country would regain its share after lifting of unilateral western sanction," Zanganeh said.
Zanganeh made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting Japanese economic delegation in Tehran, Iran's IRIB reported on August 9.
Daishiro Yamagiwa, vice-minister of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, who leads the delegation, expressed hope that the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers would pave the way for Iran and Japan to resume cooperation in the field of energy.
Japan has sent the first East Asian trade delegation to Iran after the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers on July 14.
Yamagiwa, accompanied by executives from the oil, gas and other industries, arrived in Iran on August 8.
A senior Iranian Oil Ministry official said in July that it may be possible for Japan to resume participation in an oil field development project from which it withdrew nearly five years ago due to effects of strengthened U.S. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear ambitions.
Japan's return to the project Azadegan project in southwestern Iran would signal the Middle Eastern country's desire to make use of Japanese companies' technical capabilities.
Senior government ministers from France, Germany and Serbia have been among those making the trek since the July 14 accord, which raised the prospect of banking and trade sanctions on Iran being lifted, possibly by the end of this year.
Last month Iran outlined plans to rebuild its main industries and trade relations following the nuclear agreement with world powers, saying it was targeting oil and gas projects worth $185 billion by 2020.