TEHRAN- Iranian industry, mining and trade sectors attracted $3.5 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), which indicates 75-percent growth from the figure of its preceding year, according to an industry official.

Afrouz Bahrami, director general of Foreign Investment Office of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, made the announcement in a press conference on Monday, and also announced that $1 billion worth of the FDI projects has been approved during the past month.

The official further highlighted the achievements that Iran obtained after the implementation of its nuclear deal in January 2016 and said the country has attracted some $6 billion of FDI in the post-sanction time.

She also referred to the data released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and said based on the UNCTAD’s data, Iran’s FDI attraction rose 26 percent in 2016 from 2015, while the figure was 14 percent for the developing countries and also the average global FDI attraction showed 2.5-percent decline in the same year.

Industrial renovation on agenda

Addressing the same press conference, Reza Rahmani, the deputy industry, mining and trade minister for projects and planning, expounded upon the ministry’s plans for the current calendar year and also its achievements in the past year.

He mentioned industrial renovation as one of the priorities of the ministry in the current year and said the industrial units will be renovated in a bid to make the products and services more competitive.

Technology improvement is also on the agenda, the official added.

“This year will be really a fruitful year for the mining sector. We have mine all over the country and promotion of their status as well as renovation of mining industries are also planned”, Rahmani stated.

Supporting SMEs to continue

The deputy minister further said that the projects to support the small and medium-sized enterprises will continue in the current year.

“Some 200 trillion rials (about $4.76 billion) of banking facilities have been paid to 28,529 SMEs in the past year, which was more than the projected figure”, Rahmani underlined.

He went on to say that 5,871 operation permits have been issued with 298 trillion rials (about $7.09 billion) of investment in the previous year which led to creation of jobs for 103,455 persons.

The number of issued permits shows 3.5 percent rise and the number of created jobs indicates 16.2 percent increase year on year, the official added.

Some 20,700 establishment permits were also issued in the past year which are anticipated to create jobs for 476,000 persons, he announced and said that the requests for receiving establishment permits rose 21.8 percent.

He also announced about issuance of 978 permits for mine discovery in the past year which indicates 25.5 percent rise compared to the preceding year and said it is anticipated to lead to the creation of jobs for 5,938 persons showing 47.5 percent growth.

Modification of structures

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rahmani referred to the modification of structures specially in terms of permit issuance as one of the main measures taken by the ministry in the past year and said some good achievements have been obtained in this due.

He said good modifications have been also made in the field of combatting corruption and also in terms of information dissemination and transparency of data.

Expansion of previous systems and establishment of new systems to facilitate people’s access to the data and also offer them more clear data and information is one of the noticeable measures in this regard, the deputy minister explained.

In the end, the official said that some better budget has been allocated to the ministry in this year compared to the previous year, which is hoped to be used in the best possible way.

 
PHOTO: Reza Rahmani, the deputy industry, mining and trade minister for projects and planning, speaking in a press conference on Monday