Tehran, Iran, July 7
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
The Iranian government has issued guarantees for a total of about $12 billion in foreign investments in 2016, Mohammad Khazaei, deputy finance minister for investment affairs, said at a forum on Iran’s investment opportunities in Vienna.
This figure has been the highest the country has ever seen, Khazaei said, Mehr news agency reported July 7.
The deputy finance minister said the government of President Hassan Rouhani has already signed agreements with several countries to finance its infrastructure projects. Those countries, the official noted, include Austria, Denmark, Italy, Britain, Germany, China, South Korea and Japan.
Khazaei said those agreements would lead to major investments in the Islamic Republic in the near future.
The official said Iran has already proven to be an appropriate place for investment, saying this was the reason why investors were already transferring their capitals from certain regional countries to Tehran as a result of recent diplomatic crises in the Persian Gulf region.
Khazaei emphasized that Iran has entered a new era of economic cooperation with the world, stressing that the recent trend of investments in the country testified to that.
In the most recent and groundbreaking of such investments, France’s Total signed a deal with Iran to invest $5 billion into developing Phase 11 of South Pars gas field. This, along with deals with major airplane makers such as Boeing and Airbus, are believed to act as icebreakers and lure more investors to Iran, which was freed from extensive international sanctions in 2016.