Tehran to host international finance and investment confab

TEHRAN,May 8(MNA) - Some 250 companies from Iran and seven other countries have attended the sixth edition of the international exhibition on bourse, bank and insurance which will open on Tuesday at the Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds. Turkey, Canada, Pakistan, France, Belarus, Georgia and Afghanistan are the foreign participants in the exhibition, which will run until Friday. The number of participants has grown by 65 percent compared to the previous edition. Foreign investment plans in Iran amounted to $5.3 billion in the past calendar year, which ended on March 19, showing 27 percent growth compared to the year before, deputy economy minister Behrouz Alishiri said on April 2. Alishiri said that up to three billion dollars as foreign investment was carried out last year. Some 1.1 trillion dollars is needed to be invested during the fifth five-year economic development plan (2010-2015) to materialize the 8-percent growth rate, Alishiri said on February 26. The domestic sources have the potential to meet around 56 percent of the required sum and the rest should be provided through foreign investment, he noted. Iran needs up to $300 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) to meet objectives of its fifth five-year development plan (2010-2015), and reach 8 percent economic growth rate, Alishiri said.