TEHRAN – As announced by a provincial official, over 23.904 trillion rials (about $570 million) of investment has been made in the industry sector of West Azarbaijan province in the northwest of Iran, during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22), showing 87 percent rise as compared to the first half of the past year.

Gholamreza Babaei, the head of the province’s Industry, Mining, and Trade Department, also said that 1,057 permits have been issued in the six-month period for the establishment of new industrial units, and development of some existing ones, which indicates over 40 percent rise as compared to the same time span of the previous year.

Meanwhile, the mentioned permits and investment have laid the ground for the employment of 1,699 persons, with 46 percent growth year on year, the official noted.

According to the data released by Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry, during the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year, 18,000 permits have been issued for establishing new industrial units in the country, while 485 licenses have also been issued for mining exploration units.

The estimated investment made for the establishment of the mentioned units was more than 5.76 quadrillion rials (about $137.142 billion).

The units are predicted to create jobs for 438,895 persons.

Based on the Industry Ministry data, the number of issued licenses during the said period has declined three percent compared to the figure for the previous year’s same six months, while the volume of investment made in the units has increased by 155 percent and the number of jobs expected to be created has also increased by 6.1 percent.

The number of issued licenses for mining exploration operations during the first half of the current fiscal year increased by 2.1 percent.

It is estimated that the mentioned exploitation licenses would create jobs for 76,527 people, which shows a growth of 19.9 percent compared to the previous year’s same time span.

As announced by Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mehdi Sadeqi Niaraki, the issuance of establishment licenses for industrial units in the country increased 40 percent in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

“The number of establishment licenses increased to more than 36,000 last year, which shows that people are encouraged to invest in the productive sectors”, the official has stated.

MA/MA