TEHRAN – Iran and Romania have signed a memorandum of understanding based on which the Islamic Republic is going to provide Romania with engineering services related to the gas industry, IRNA reported on Tuesday.

As reported, the MOU was signed between Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company and Romania’s Gaz Vest Company.

Based on the mentioned MOU, Iran is going to cooperate with Romania in the construction of natural gas transmission lines, pressure boosting facilities, and the development of gas storage tanks in the country.

Romania is the first European country to which Iran is going to export technical and engineering services.

As stated by Head of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company Reza Noshadi, the purpose of signing this memorandum is also to study joint investment opportunities and to interact in other fields such as the construction of refineries, and power plants.

Under the framework of the said MOU, a joint working group is also going to be formed in order to exchange knowledge, expertise, and experiences of the parties in common areas of work.

Over the past few years and especially since the re-imposition of the U.S. sanctions on the Iranian economy, the country has been taking serious steps to boost its non-oil exports and cut dependence on oil.

In this regard, the Islamic Republic’s policy has not been limited to increasing the exports of non-oil products, as the country is also determined to expand the export of technical and engineering services.

Based on the data provided by the Association of Iranian Exporters of Technical and Engineering Services, Iran has the potential and capability to export technical and engineering services worth $25 billion in a year.

Considering the country’s huge potential in this field, boosting such exports would be an advantage for expanding the country’s foreign trade.

According to the former head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Hamid Zadboum, TPO has been focusing on improving the exports of engineering and technical services to the neighboring countries as well as China, and India.

EF/MA