Tehran, Brasilia set to deepen economic ties

TEHRAN, Nov. 19 (MNA) – Iran’s Economy Minister Tayebnia has stressed that the country welcomes all initiatives to develop and strengthen bilateral cooperation between Tehran and Brasilia. The Iranian minister made the remarks at the closing ceremony of the 14th Iran-Brazil Joint Investment Economic Commission meeting held on Nov 17-18 in Brasilia. The session was also attended by José Serra, Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Brazilin Minister of Industry and Commerce Marcos Pereira. Iran’s Tayebnia appreciated Brazil’s hosting of the joint economic commission reiterating that both sides appear to enjoy serious determination for reinvigoration of economic relations. He underlined that the determination is rooted in the age-old friendship between the two sides which has led to continuous growth of mutual ties including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in various areas like energy, industries, mining, technology, agriculture as well as pharmaceuticals. Iran’s economy minister, while pointing to the efforts made to bring back economic stability to the country, expressed hope that political determination between Tehran and Brazil will be exploited improve level of trade turnover and volume of investment between both parties. “In line with the same cause, a wide range of new collaborations can take place in order to strengthen grounds for economic ties between the two sides.” Ali Tayebnia also deemed secure and low-cost banking ties as prerequisite to bolstering of cooperation between economic activists of both sides; “Iranian banks are willing to launch broker relations with as well as to open accounts in Brazilian banks as means of facilitating bilateral economic transactions.” He expressed regret that despite removal of sanctions against Iran, the banking system of Brazil has refused to take immediate and serious steps in development of banking relations with Iran; “hopefully, existing barriers on banking relations will be removed in view of recent negotiations.” Economy Minister Tayebnia further underscored that excellent agreements in numerous arenas were reached within two days of the joint economic commission meeting, saying “once an agreement was made between Iran and the 5+1 group of countries, a myriad of politico-economic delegations from five world continents made visits to Iran expressing readiness to resume economic relations.” “Meanwhile, Iran has never sought to encourage imports, rather, the Iranian government’s approach revolves around joint investment, direct foreign investment, technology transfer as well as project financing in line with tenets of Resistance Economy policy defined by the Iran's Leader.” The official said Iran’s economy will observe a significant growth in the coming year and extensive planning has been made to strengthen production and investment as well as to expedite productive economic activities. “Given the diverse economic capacities and numerous competitive advantages of Iran, the government has paid due attention to technical and financial capabilities of foreign parties,” stressed Tayebnia. He went on to enumerate venues for cooperation in infrastructure and developmental projects between Tehran and Brasilia asserting “Iran perceives no limitation on expansion of ties as any initiative to deepen bilateral relations is welcomed.” “The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully prepared to elevate multilateral ties with Latin American states, Brazil in particular,” commented Iran’s economic minister adding “governments need to act as supporters of the private sector so that they implement fruitful projects with confidence.” He also voiced regret towards the low volume of trade turnover between the two sides despite existence of numerous opportunities; “in the post-JCPOA era, Brazil is capable of turning into one of Iran’s largest trade partners.” “The current volume of trade and business turnover stands at about 1.6 billion dollars,” said Tayebnia concluding “efforts need to be made to increase the figure to at least six billion dollars within three years.”