ID :
197499
Wed, 07/27/2011 - 09:20
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/197499
The shortlink copeid
Official: Iran Experiencing Leap in Attracting Foreign Investment Funds
TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian economic official announced on Tuesday that the country has attracted billions of dollars through foreign investment despite the current decline in the flow of capital and foreign investment throughout the world.
"The total volume of global foreign investment amounted to $1,243bln last year, $3.6bln of which was attracted by Iran," Head of Iran's Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance Behrouz Alishiri said.
Alishiri reiterated that the volume of foreign investment in Iran shows a 20% growth compared with the previous year.
In 2009, the Islamic Republic also saw the highest rate of foreign investment attraction and with an 86% growth, the figure hit the all-time high of $3 billion, and ranked Iran among the top six countries in this respect.
In relevant remarks at the time, Alishiri praised the achievement, and underscored the importance of maintaining the momentum.
He downplayed the effects of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, arguing that the growth indicated that foreign entities take heed of favorable economic factors rather than political reservations.
Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the demand is politically tainted and illogical.
Tehran says sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path of progress.
Following US pressures on companies to stop business with Tehran, many western companies decided to do a balancing act. They tried to maintain their presence in Iran, which is rich in oil and gas, but not getting into big deals that could endanger their interests in the US.
Yet, after oil giants in the West witnessed that their absence in big deals has provided Chinese, Indian and Russian companies with excellent opportunities to sign up to an increasing number of energy projects and earn billions of dollars, they started showing increasing interest in investment or expansion of their work in Iran.
Some European states have also recently voiced interest in investment in Iran's energy sector after the gas deal was signed between Iran and Switzerland regardless of US sanctions.
The National Iranian Gas Export Company and Switzerland's Elektrizitaetsgesellschaft Laufenburg signed a 25-year deal in March 2008 for the delivery of 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
In another case, a deal, worth €100m ($147m, £80m), was signed by Steiner Prematechnik Gastec, the German engineering company, in 2009 to build equipment for three gas conversion plants in Iran.
In December 2010, the New York Times reported that over the past decade, United States-based companies have done billions of dollars in trade with Iran despite sanctions and trade embargoes imposed on Tehran.
One American company, the daily said, was permitted to do work on an Iranian gas pipeline, despite sanctions aimed at Iran's gas industry in particular.
The transactions have been made possible by a 2000 law that allows exemptions from sanctions for companies selling food or medical products, the report added.
Iranian officials have always stressed that the International and unilateral sanctions against Iran have had no result but inflicting damage on the European companies.
"The total volume of global foreign investment amounted to $1,243bln last year, $3.6bln of which was attracted by Iran," Head of Iran's Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance Behrouz Alishiri said.
Alishiri reiterated that the volume of foreign investment in Iran shows a 20% growth compared with the previous year.
In 2009, the Islamic Republic also saw the highest rate of foreign investment attraction and with an 86% growth, the figure hit the all-time high of $3 billion, and ranked Iran among the top six countries in this respect.
In relevant remarks at the time, Alishiri praised the achievement, and underscored the importance of maintaining the momentum.
He downplayed the effects of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, arguing that the growth indicated that foreign entities take heed of favorable economic factors rather than political reservations.
Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the demand is politically tainted and illogical.
Tehran says sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path of progress.
Following US pressures on companies to stop business with Tehran, many western companies decided to do a balancing act. They tried to maintain their presence in Iran, which is rich in oil and gas, but not getting into big deals that could endanger their interests in the US.
Yet, after oil giants in the West witnessed that their absence in big deals has provided Chinese, Indian and Russian companies with excellent opportunities to sign up to an increasing number of energy projects and earn billions of dollars, they started showing increasing interest in investment or expansion of their work in Iran.
Some European states have also recently voiced interest in investment in Iran's energy sector after the gas deal was signed between Iran and Switzerland regardless of US sanctions.
The National Iranian Gas Export Company and Switzerland's Elektrizitaetsgesellschaft Laufenburg signed a 25-year deal in March 2008 for the delivery of 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
In another case, a deal, worth €100m ($147m, £80m), was signed by Steiner Prematechnik Gastec, the German engineering company, in 2009 to build equipment for three gas conversion plants in Iran.
In December 2010, the New York Times reported that over the past decade, United States-based companies have done billions of dollars in trade with Iran despite sanctions and trade embargoes imposed on Tehran.
One American company, the daily said, was permitted to do work on an Iranian gas pipeline, despite sanctions aimed at Iran's gas industry in particular.
The transactions have been made possible by a 2000 law that allows exemptions from sanctions for companies selling food or medical products, the report added.
Iranian officials have always stressed that the International and unilateral sanctions against Iran have had no result but inflicting damage on the European companies.
