Iran to Take Stage as Region’s Investment Hub: President
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s new approach to foreign policy has raised its level at the international arena, President Hassan Rouhani stressed, and promised that the country will turn into a major investment center thanks to interaction with the world.
“Everyone acknowledges that if we take one or two more steps in the foreign policy, the gates will be completely opened (to foreign investment), and you will see that Iran will turn into one of the major investment centers in this region,” Rouhani said in the province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari on Thursday.
“To gain sustainable employment and (economic) growth and to be able to control inflation, we have no choice but investment and production,” the president stressed.
Rouhani has repeatedly voiced Iran’s willingness to woo foreign investors in various sectors along with a new plan on foreign policy.
Back in January, in a meeting with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee, President Rouhani highlighted the ample opportunities for foreign companies to gain the benefit of investing in Iran’s market, and invited the South Korean firms to make investment in Iran’s oil and gas industries.
Rouhani’s call for the influx of foreign investment into Iran follows the lifting of some western sanctions on Tehran, after a landmark nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and the major world powers came into effect on January 20.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva after several rounds of tight negotiations.
Based on the interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action), $4.2 billion in oil revenues were allowed to be transferred to Iran.
