TEHRAN- According to the Iranian Finance and Foreign Affairs Ministry, during three months since the 14th government’s incumbency, 182 applications related to foreign investment have been reviewed and approved by the Foreign Investment Committee, and the value of the approved foreign investment plans in this three-month period has reached $1.8 billion.

As the ministry reported, the 285th meeting of the foreign investment board and the third meeting in the 14th government was held under the chairmanship of Ali Fekri, the deputy finance and economic affairs minister and the head of the Organization for investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, and with the presence of members of the foreign investment board.

In order to speed up and facilitate the process of issuing foreign investment permits, a meeting of the foreign investment committee is held in the mentioned organization every month.

During a conference titled Iran Investment Opportunities, which was held in late September prior to Iran Invest Expo, it was stated that 30 countries have announced their readiness to invest in Iran.

In the Iran Investment Opportunities Conference, 107 representatives and investment delegations from 30 countries announced their readiness to invest in Iran, the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) reported.

As reported, the event was held at Persian Gulf Hall of the Tehran Permanent International Fairground, participated by Mahmoud Bazari, the director-general of trade promotion office of the TPO, Mohammad-Reza Qaderi, the organizer of Iran Investment Opportunities Expo, some officials, and representatives of the Expo Strategic Council.

Addressing the conference, Bazari said, “In recent years, we have faced problems in the financing in various economic sectors, therefore, the 14th government has included the attraction of foreign investment among its plans and priorities, and we hope to provide the opportunity for investment in this government.”

Addressing the same gathering, the organizer of Iran Investment Opportunities Expo pointed to the difficulties of attracting investment in the economy, and said the cruel sanctions increased the risk of foreign investment in Iran, but in the past years, positive measures were taken to amend the laws and grant some facilities, therefore the process of attracting investment in Iran has been growing.

Stating that public calls for attracting foreign investment are not made, he said the first goal of holding the Iran Investment Expo is to announce an international call to attract foreign investors and introduce Iran as an investable country.

Emphasizing that investment opportunities require economic analysis, Qaderi continued: “Presenting Iran's attractive appearance to foreign investors requires that we introduce a wide range of investment opportunities correctly and in the form of necessary standards.”

In the end, he said: “TPO is one of the arms of holding this exhibition and made good efforts to introduce this exhibition through commercial attachés and business centers. Finally, 30 countries introduced 107 investment representatives and delegations to us, and after the investigations, we concluded that they are willing to make more than 7.2 billion dollars of investment in Iran.”

MA