Tehran, Iran, July 1
Trend:
While Afghan investors and businessmen can obtain Iranian citizenship by investing $200,000 in the country, they prefer to invest in Turkey, said head of food industry of Iran Chamber of Commerce.
Ali Shariati discussed the issue of Iranian citizenship for Afghan businessmen in return of $200,000 investment in an interview with Trend.
"The issue has been discussed in last Iranian year (started March 21, 2018) with Afghan partners and merchants," he noted.
"In recent months, Afghan businessmen have faced problem due to US sanctions against Iran, so they decided to choose Turkey," he added. "Although Turkey is a country with Islamic views, it is not related to Shiite Muslims, so Afghan businessmen were inclined to invest in Iran until recently."
"We should see if Iranian investment outside the country is on the same scale with the foreign investment in the country," he said criticizing the plan to offer citizenship to foreign investors.
"A young entrepreneurs that were educated thanks to subsides, often intend to leave the country, so the number of immigrates is increasing," he said. "Despite high potentials to attract investment, necessary steps had not been taken."
In his words, the US sanctions against Iran is the main reason that has frighten the foreign investors. He went on to say "The comments of Mohammad Nahavandian, Vice President for Economic Affairs, about attracting investments is only to confront the US psychological war. While one investor might come, much more will not come, so the government should have done something to address the issue."
"Afghan businessmen have told me that they do no longer possibilities to work in Iran," he said. "In this situation, Iranian investors that have invested in other countries due to sanction problems should invest in their own country," he added.