Foreign investments in Raisi admin. up 100%: Iran official

Tehran, IRNA – The figure of 4.8 billion dollars of foreign investments in Iran during the past year indicates 100 percent jump in this regard in the first year of President Ebrahim Raisi’s tenure, an Iranian official said. Ali Fekri, Deputy Minister and Head of Organization for Investment Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, told Iran newspaper on Sunday that the incumbent administration has succeeded in doubling the volume of absorbing foreign investments during the short time. The 13th administration in Tehran reformed the basis of calculating foreign investment, increased inspections to resolve problems of investors, programmed for development of economic and investment opportunities with regional and aligned countries, renewed articles of association to support investors, determined new methods for repayment of former administrations’ loans to international entities, and proposed plans to back Iranian expatriates, the official noted. The amount of valid foreign investments in the last year stood at 4.8 billion dollars in comparison to 2.4 billion dollars in the final year of the former administration, showing 100 percent hike in this respect, he argued. Fekri went on to say that one of the main reasons behind the growth of investments in Iran has been the reformation of policy-making and adopting active approaches in dealing with neighboring and aligned states as the target countries to invest in Iran, noting that determining common interests with these countries made the process of investment very easy. The minister of economy’s trips to Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries were in line with the objective to promote such cooperation, he argued. As to absorbing assets from international organizations, he said that the Islamic Republic has been vigilant to refuse some preconditions for foreign loans. However, the Raisi administration has succeeded in getting a 90-million-dollar loan from the World Bank to purchase medical equipment in the past year. The deputy minister also said that the preplanned reformation of articles of association of the Organization for Investment Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran within a month will pave the ground for sending positive signal to foreign investors to go ahead with their investments in the Islamic country confidently, and that suggesting gross strategies of industries and identifying prioritized projects in the country will provide the foreign investors a good opportunity to become familiar with the investment chances in Iran. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish