In an address in Vadodara, Gujarat, on Thursday, he characterized Iran-India ties as specific in post-sanctions era, and called for strengthening bilateral relations during the period.

Referring to the strategic importance of Chabahar in development of ties, he pointed out that the port reduces the distance between Iran and Gujarat by one and half a day.

The minister said that cost of petrochemicals and fertilizers production is low in Chabahar, given its advantages.

He also pointed to the imminent visit by the Indian foreign minister to Iran, saying that the trip will help promote bilateral relations.

Pradhan, who is to visit Tehran on Saturday, also said that he is to discuss various issues such as bilateral ties and India’s participation in Chabahar development during his trip.

This is the first trip by an Indian minister following implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

At the opening ceremony of the P4 Expo India 2016 on Tuesday which runs for five days, Ansari said the Indian corporations should take the existing opportunities that have been created after removal of anti-Iran sanctions on January 16 for cooperation with Iran.

Iran and India have long-lasting relations in up and downstream sectors, he noted, adding that the two countries can further develop those relations in new era.

He further referred to short distance between Iran and India as another element which helps foster bilateral cooperation.

Economies in Tehran and New Delhi are complementary, said the ambassador while referring to Iran as one of the biggest oil producers in the world, and India as one of world’s biggest energy consumers.

India is among Iran’s oil and gas customers. Indian minister of petroleum is to travel to Tehran in next few days to review ways to widen bilateral economic relations during talks with the Iranian officials.

In the meeting, Aqaei enimerated IRIR’s capabilities and presented a report on ways to connect Iranian railway network to Asian and European borders as well as southern Iranian post city of Khorramshahr to Iraq, Herat in Afghanistan, to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) through Turkmenistan and Astara to Azerbaijan Republic.
Hololei expressed readiness for bilateral cooperation, transfer of technology and consultations to Iran concerning railway projects and joint cooperation in different sectors.
In order to increase its passenger trains speed in different tracks, the IRIR is considering capabilities of different countries in the world to electrify some of its main railway tracks.

Talking to IRNA on Tuesday on the sidelines of Iran-Germany Economic Conference held by the German Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV), she added the event mainly dealt with investment opportunities and German companies’ cooperation with Iranian firms.

Asked about type of cooperation in the petrochemical industry, she said that most of manufacturers of petrochemical industry equipment are from German and many licenses have also been obtained form German firms.

The deputy oil minister further noted, ‘Over the past years, even in times of sanctions, our relations with German companies were excellent. These companies kept their cooperation with us on the basis of previous agreements.’

Shahedaei hoped that Iran would take advantage of German firm’s cooperation, both in the field of technology transfer and investment.

The official also said that she is to hold talks with certain officials and heads of German companies on promotion of cooperation in petrochemical sector.

He made the remarks in a seminar on ‘Iran New Commercial Opportunities in presence of Malaysian economic activists and Iran’s Ambassador to the country, Marzieh Afkham.
He referred to numerous commercial opportunities in Iran, saying that his country is keen on expansion of mutual trade ties with Iran.
He said that Malaysia has longstanding trade relations with Iran, and that Iran was one of the biggest commercial partners of the country prior to the sanctions.
A large number of Malaysian firms such as oil and gas companies were engaged in the Iran in the past, but the sanctions highly affected the relations, he said.
Mahmud further noted that Iran-Malaysia trade stood at 487 million dollars in 2015, down by 12 percent due to a sharp decline in oil prices.
Malaysia’s imports from Iran last year also fell by 25.6 percent to 34 million dollars from 46 million dollars the year earlier, he said.
Malaysian imports from Iran include date, dried fruits, grapes and petrochemicals.
‘We are trying to promote trade ties with Iran in the coming years,’ he said.

Private sector envoys, attending a meeting in chamber of commerce and industry of Turkish southwestern provinces, surveyed ways of playing a influential role in expansion of economic and commercial relations with Iran.
Commercial consul in Iranian Embassy in western Turkey Hamid Zadbum told IRNA that the Turkish private sector representatives in the meeting focused on Iran-Turkey economic relations and using atmosphere of investment and economic activity in Iran.

Hossein Yaqoubi, international affairs’ director at Central Bank of Iran (CBI), told reporters that the Iranian banks are not allowed according to the directions to establish ties with small foreign banks.

Relations with big foreign banks are on the agenda, he added.

Iran and the six world powers reached a landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 14, 2015.

As anti-Iran sanctions were lifted on January 16, ‘Implementation Day’ of the JCPOA was announced on that day.

Member of the Board of Representatives of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Hamid-Reza Salehi said the projects will also cover railway transportation, auto spare part manufacturing, agricultural products, hospital establishment in Iran and export of Halal meat to Austria from Iran.

Salehi said the deals were inked during recent visit of a 110-member delegation of Iranian private sector to Austria last week.

He said Iranian and Austrian banking officials also agreed upon banking cooperation and insurance coverage of the exports risks.

Salehi went on to say that the Iranian parties during their visits welcomed finance of projects in Iranian territory.

He told the paper on Saturday that sanctions on Iran were removed, creating opportunity which should be used by the European firms to go ahead with trade and economic ties with Iran.
Leitl expressed hope that Austrian companies would develop cooperation with Iranian partners, saying that in the aftermath of lifting the sanctions, Iran has a dynamic economic situation and it can find the best economic partners for itself in the global community.
He said that economic sanctions on Iran dealt a heavy blow to its economy, but Austria thanks to its excellent relations with Iran, would have been a firm partner in difficult times.
Christophe Leitl and his Iranian counterpart Mohsen Jalalpour signed eight Memorandums of Understanding worth over 2 billion dollars in the field of automobile, steel industry, medicine and engineering services in Vienna on March 31, 2016.

In a letter to Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) of Iran, the international organization announced that the country will be a member of the body as of March 29.

The letter also invited Iran to take part in the board meeting of IOSCO which is to be held in Lima, Peru, in May 2016.

Iran will be a member of the African-Middle East committee of the organization.

Iran’s membership in the organization will give the organization access to international markets and facilitates globalization of Iran’s investment markets.

Meanwhile, Iranian exchange organizations, including those for stocks, securities, commodities, energy and fara bourse, will also be able to join World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).

Chairman of Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran Mohammad Fetanat had already said that Iran’s membership status in International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) became final.

Fetanat said that Iran’s capital market, with longstanding activities in the field of stock exchange, is to become member of the IOSCO for the first time.

IOSCO is an association of organizations that regulate the world’s securities and future markets.