TEHRAN – Austria is interested to invest in some key fields of industry in Iran, such as transport and steel industries, Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia said.

He made the statement on the sidelines of a meeting with Austrian Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner in Tehran on Tuesday, the IRIB reported.

Tayyebnia put the current volume of trade between Iran and Austria at approximately $300 million, adding that in talks with his Austrian counterpart, they looked into ways to raise the bilateral trade to $1 billion.

The Iranian minister further stated that there have been positive political ties between the two countries, not to dismiss Austria’s record of industrial cooperation with Iran.

“Already we have proposed plans to the Austrian side, some of which have been accepted after being studied by them”, Tayyebnia continued to say, adding, “our colleagues are negotiating with Austrian teams to see how they can put the plans into operation and some agreements have been achieved.”

The Austrian economy minister, for his part, said that Iran and Austria bilateral relationships are at a formally optimal level.

Turning to future cooperation between the two countries, Mitterlehner depicted a bright future between Iran and Austria in the light of the contracts signed and called for the expansion of win-win bilateral cooperation.

Inquired about the likely cooperation fields between Iran and Austria, Mitterlehner referred to precious experiences of his country in the fields of environment, renewable energies, and technical investments.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer at the head of a 240-member delegation, comprising business executives from companies including Andritz, OMV, Lenzing, Raiffeisen and Erste Bank, arrived in Iran on Monday.

During a meeting between Fischer and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, it was announced that the two countries have agreed to work on drafting a roadmap for their bilateral trade in 2020, with an emphasis on infrastructure, energy, industry, transport, as well as science and culture.

“We expect to boost our volume of trade to 300 million euros in the short term, and we then look forward to markedly increasing our economic relations,” Fischer said.

Also, Austria’s chamber of commerce chief Christoph Leitl said in a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday Trade ties between Iran and Austria could hit 1 billion euros by 2020.


AK/