TEHRAN – Resuming economic ties with Iran will be a priority for Britain, said British Treasury Minister Damian Hinds.

Iran and Britain can be good trading partners for each other, Hinds said in his Sunday meeting with Mohsen Jalalpour, the chairman of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture.

Hinds accompanied British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond for a two-day trip to Iran, started on Sunday.

“Our main purpose in taking the trip to Iran is to pave the way for the dispatch of a big trade delegation by the end of the year,” Hinds told reporters.

Complaining of the unfair attitude of British companies toward Iranian trading partners during the sanctions era, Jalalpour announced Iran’s preparation to launch joint investment projects with British companies in the fields of water, environment protection, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, and ICT in addition to energy, petrochemicals, transportation, and heavy industries.

Trade turnover between Iran and the UK has increased by 25% following a thaw in diplomatic ties between Tehran and London.
Prior to the Western-led sanctions against Iran in 2011, the Iran-UK trade was more than €623 million, compared to €256 million in 2012, which further fell to €121 million in the same year due to the escalation of sanctions, according to the Eurostat.

The figure stood at over €121 million back in 2013.

However, the two-way trade took an ascending tend in 2014 in the wake of the interim nuclear accord reached between Iran and world powers, touching €152 million.

There between the two countries amounted to €80 million in the first half of 2015, a 9 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2014.

AK