TEHRAN – Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) Masoud Khansari has called on the government to benefit from the views of the private sector in developing the country’s new economic diplomacy model.

Speaking in the First National Conference on Economic Diplomacy which was held in Tehran on Tuesday, Khansari emphasized the important role of the private sector in designing a model for maximizing the use of foreign markets and concluding bilateral or multilateral trade agreements in line with national interests.

The mentioned conference was organized by the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations in collaboration with Imam Sadegh University’s Institute of Economic Diplomacy.

Noting that a wide range of political tools are used in economic diplomacy to achieve national economic interests, Khansari called for the design of an executive model with the participation of the private sector to implement the country's economic diplomacy at its best.

He noted that according to this model, the government must put it on the agenda to reach bilateral or multilateral economic agreements with the participation of the private sector, strengthen financial diplomacy, expand cooperation and infrastructure in transportation and energy, and develop international interactions.

The official stressed the need to harmonize policies related to economic diplomacy at all levels of government and non-government, and stated that in order to achieve this goal, the training of business diplomats should be taken seriously.

The TCCIMA head further noted that prioritizing economic goals in a successful diplomacy, unifies the economic mechanisms of the country, adding: “Unfortunately, Iran's geographical position in the region, especially in the field of maritime and aviation, has not been used so far and other countries in the region have snatched the lead from Iran in this regard, while in the model for Iran's economic diplomacy, making good use of such opportunities should be put on the agenda.”

EF/MA