Tehran, Iran, May 8
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran and the UK are looking forward to exchanging legal teams in order to streamline efforts to help businessmen from both sides for mutual investment, Trend has found out.
"We met with the chairman of the [Iranian] Bar Association. Both sides are very keen to build relationships. We talked about possible future activities, including perhaps brining specific legal sector delegations to Iran and doing the same in the other way round," Elspeth Macdonald, international policy advisor at the Law Society of England and Wales told Trend May 7.
"I think there would be a lot of interest from the English legal sector. Iran has lots of aspects that make it a very exciting prospect, including young population, good infrastructure, highly educated workforce, and that geographically the country is situated in a very useful position," she said.
Iran has a population of 80 million. But the country is surrounded by a lush market of 300 million population. Tehran is keen on luring foreign investment for joint venture that could meet both domestic demands and the regional market's.
Iran has been kept away from international business under years-long sanctions. Many experts believe that in the post-sanctions era, Iranian firms are more than anything else in need of legal consultation to prepare for the new situation.
"The issue of course at the moment is the banking question and the finance question. I think that has caused as much frustration here as in London. But certainly I think the business interest is there. So it's about finding ways to get through the obstacle. There is a lot of interest in the UK to invest in Iran and vice versa," Macdonald said.
Despite the removal of sanctions that came in the wake of the implementation of a Tehran-world powers deal in January, world banks are still reluctant to start business with Iran.