Tehran, Iran, June 28
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad, A. Shirazi - Trend:
The regional manager of Messer Cutting Systems, German-based supplier of industry leading cutting machines, said Iran is a country with tremendous industrial potential but the current political situation created by US President Donald Trump is making things difficult.
“I think Iran is a great country. There is tremendous industrial potential here and tremendous technical ability, but the economic and political situation is just killing it. It is very hard for the people here and the people like us who try to work with Iran,” Raymond Hodgkinson told Trend on June 28 on the sidelines of the AMB Iran 2018.
The exhibition is underway at the new Shahr-e-Aftab (Sun City) complex in south of Tehran with German and other foreign firms in attendance.
“At the moment it is very difficult to know the future. It depends. Personally, I believe Europe is angry with Trump for coming unilaterally out of the (nuclear) deal. That is not the way you do it. Then he angered them more by putting tariffs on steel and other (items). So, I hope this time Europe will would turn around to Trump and say you cannot implement your rules on other countries and get lost,” he added.
Hodgkinson further referred to the problems ahead of German companies for working with Iran and said, “We have been working with colleagues and firms in Iran for 30-40 years. We value our connection very highly; we are trying everything we can to continue cooperation, to continue working together, but like any other country, we have to follow the laws of our country; we have to follow the rules. At the moment, it is very difficult. As you know, we cannot even transfer funds when customer has money. It is very difficult, but we are trying everything.”
Delegations from other countries, including Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, China, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands are also present at the exhibition, which will conclude on June 29.
In a speech from the White House on May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear deal, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after around two years of negotiations.