Tehran, Iran, July 9
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
A deputy industries minister said the government plans to build an industrial town in the Maku Free Trade Zone, which is in West Azerbaijan Province, near the Turkish frontier.
Maku Free Trade Zone and Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) have agreed to start the construction work of an industrial town at the zone in the next month, Sadeq Najafi told ISNA news agency on July 9.
Necessary infrastructure will be created by the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade in the town so that domestic and foreign investors and entrepreneurs could strengthen their presence in the free trade zone.
The ministry has also held talks with Turkish officials to discuss ways to further increase their cooperation following the construction of the town.
Elsewhere in the interview, the deputy minister said the country’s biggest special economic zone (SEZ) will be set up in the Iranian city of Baneh, Kurdistan province.
The SEZ will help reduce smuggling into the country and locals do legal activities.
Referring to impending US sanctions against Iran, Najafi said the industrial town, as well as the SEZ, can help Iran counter the sanctions and not to be dependent on oil revenues.
US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.
Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.