Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said on Tuesday that the government required the state companies to order construction of cargo ships less than 100,000 tons to domestic shipbuilders.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of visit to the 7th Kish International Exhibition of Maritime and Shipping Industry.
Nematzadeh said that National Development Fund has earmarked budget to finance buying maritime equipment.
He said that the specialized banks like Bank of Industry and Mines are expected to support foreign and domestic investors in a bid to build domestic vessels.
Fortunately, a large part of works to build oil and gas platforms are being carried out by domestic executives and the government prefers to build five other platforms by financing the projects inside the country.
Nematzadeh said that strategic program for maritime industry was drwan up and will be finalized and published soon.
The 7th Kish International Exhibition on Maritime Industry and Shipping kicked off on December 22. It will work until December 25, 2015 in the Persian Gulf Island of Kish.
