During the conference hosted by Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, some 50 economic activists from 20 companies of Steiermark discussed opportunities of cooperation with their Iranian counterparts.

Steiermark is one of the nine Austrian states which is home to big industries engaged in the fields of technology and innovation, transportation, auto parts, environment and water economy, plastic and paper.

Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Masoud Khansari told the conference that the entity is ready to take serious steps in line with promoting ties with Austria.

Referring to ancient bilateral ties, he said that following the implementation of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran is seeking to maintain economic ties and establish new and long-term relations.

Putting the volume of Iran-Austria commercial exchanges at $218 million in 2014, the lowest in the past years, he blamed sanctions for the decline in mutual trade.

Iran has close ties with the market of 300 million people of neighboring states and the Austrian companies can use the broad market in their cooperation with Iranian enterprises.

Steiermark ‘s Minister of Economy, Tourism and Culture Christian Buchmann also told the same conference that presence of the two countries’ merchants in the event indicates both sides’ interest to promote economic relations and commercial exchanges.

It said that the steel manufacturers exported 1,6661,000 tons of steel, up by six percent compared to that of the preceding period.
Over 1,178,000 tons of crude steel was exported over the past nine months, showing a growth of 47 percent compared to the figure (803,000 tons) recorded in the preceding period.
It said that a total of more than 2,800,000 tons of steel items (both crude steel and steel products) were exported over the past nine months.
ITDO said that a total of 2,500,000 tons of steel products were exported last year.
Studies show that in the period under study , the five top markets for Iranian exported steel were China with $5.051 billion worth supply followed by Iraq with a supply of $4.321 billion such products, the UAE with $3.871 billion, India with $1.979 billion and Afghanistan with $1.890 billion.
Iran is the 14th major steel maker and its steel output capacity is expected to reach 55 million tons by next nine years.

Talking to IRNA, Sahlabadi said that joint venture investment with foreign partners aims to help increase domestic products, export-oriented goods and presence in the world markets.
He said that Isfahan Chamber of Commerce plans to attract foreign investment for joint venture projects to produce industrial outputs.
He said that the private sector was waiting for lifting sanctions over the past 12 years and thank God the arbitrary sanctions is no longer valid.

Speaking in a meeting with representatives of the French Vinci Company he said: “SSO has high negotiating power with the government and at the same time enjoys a high turnover.
Announcing that the organization welcomes international cooperation, the official said due to its non-governmental nature it will not be engaged in the state bureaucracy and thus will be one of the most reliable partners for foreign companies and investors.
Nourbakhsh pointed to the operation of 80 hospitals and 350 medical centers belonging to the organization and said Milad Hospital is the largest hospital in Iran and the organization intends to create Milad brand hospitals in the county.
The official proposed the setting up of a project management company with the cooperation of Vinci Company and one of the organization’s affiliated companies for the beginning of the joint cooperation.
He noted that the organization is currently implementing projects worth $25 billion, adding that cooperation with foreign investors for the implementation of the projects and supply of equipment can be followed up in a company which will be jointly established with Vinci.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Staller, Managing Director of Vinci Company, said in France when people speak about Iran all agree that it is a safe country with a historical background, adding that his country can work and cooperate with Iran as a safe country.
He said his company is active in many world countries and its turnover is approximately 38 billion euros and close to 200 thousand people are working in the company.
Hoping for future cooperation with Iran, Staller said one of the activities of his company is building 5-star hotels, adding that through cooperation with companies affiliated to the organization a five-star brand hotel can be created in Iran.

Taghavi-Nejad said the incentive is aimed to expand Iran’s non-oil exports through direct tax reform, Tehran Times reported.
In this regard, he said, exporters of raw materials would receive less tax discount, ranging at 20 percent.
Taghavi-Nejad further noted that eliminating the tax on export revenues would spur financial transparency and boost competition among the producers.
Increase of exports, he added, would help create jobs and investment opportunities in the country.
According to the budget bill of the next calendar year, tax incomes are projected to rise by 14 percent to one quadrillion rials (about $27 billion) from this year’s 880 trillion rials (about $24 billion), Iran’s Management and Planning Organization Director Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said on January 19.
Nobakht said, “To reduce our reliance on oil revenues, we need to increase government’s tax incomes.”
The value of Iran’s non-oil exports hit $35.613 billion in the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2015-January 20, 2016).
Iran has set a target of $77.5 billion in non-oil exports for the current Iranian calendar year, according to Mojtaba Khosrotaj, the Iranian deputy industry, mining, and trade minister.

Khazaei said industry, agriculture, transportation and tourism are the main sectors to attract foreign investment, FNA reported on Monday.
He said, “250 investment opportunities have been identified in different provinces and we would introduce them to foreign financers.”
According to Khazaei, As much as around $45 billion to $50 billion is expected to be invested by foreign companies in Iran during the next Iranian calendar year.
Major international companies are rushing to establish a position in Iran as the Islamic Republic re-opens for business after the lifting of international sanctions.
Up for grabs is access to a market with 80 million people and annual output of some $400 billion, making Iran the biggest economy to rejoin the global trading system since the Soviet Union broke up over two decades ago.
Audi, Commerzbank, Daimler, Hellenic Petroleum, Herrenknecht, International Airlines Group, National Aluminum Co, Turkcell and Zurich Insurance are among the companies which eye investment in post-sanctions Iran.

According the State Department website, he said there is no difference in the figures announced by the two ministries of treasury and state regarding the figure.

Commenting on the same issue, the “Washington Free Beacon” said that “when a reporter asked if there was a “binding parameter of the nuclear accord,” which said that half of the money was unavailable, State Department spokesman John Kirby dodged the question and said Iran would only “have access” to $50 billion.”

“Our Treasury Department has done the analysis and has determined that … roughly half of the unfrozen assets are already spoken for and will be unavailable to them to use in manners in which they would choose,” the website cited Kirby as saying.

Kirby said that half of the $100 billion that Iran receives will go toward “international commitments” and “infrastructure requirements.”

“The amount of money, which is their money, that they would now have access to is just a little bit more than $50 billion, because the rest of it, nearly half of the entire freed-up assets … is already tied up in debts to the Chinese, or in other international commitments,” Kirby said.“Not to mention will be consumed by their own infrastructure requirements that lay before them.”

Kirby repeated that half of the money would not be available to Iran according to U.S. State Department and Treasury Department assessments.

“It’s their money that has now been unfrozen. It’s our assessment, and not just our assessment, but the Treasury Department’s assessment, that much of that is already spoken for,” Kirby said.

“Linde AG and Mitsui & Co. were among the companies which had negotiated with us about the general conditions of Iran’s petrochemical industry before the implementation of Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers,” Shahdaie told the IRNA on Monday.
Now that the sanctions are lifted, she said, the two companies have held further talks on investing in Iran’s petrochemical sector, however, she added, the agreement is not final yet.
Linde AG, the multinational industrial gases and engineering company, is the world’s largest industrial gas company and Mitsui & Co. is one of the largest general trading companies in Japan.
Iran plans to raise its petrochemical production to around 129 million tons by the end of the country’s sixth five-year development plan (2021).
Officials say the country has the capacity to produce 60 million tons of petrochemicals per annum.
On January 30, Shahdaie said the Iranian petrochemical sector should attract $8-10 billion finance per annum mainly through foreign direct investment.
The government has announced that Iran’s priority is buying technical knowledge rather than equipment from the other countries.
Last December, Mohammad-Hassan Peyvandi, the deputy managing director of the NPC, said Iran’s annual petrochemical output is planned to reach 46 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2016).
According to Tehran Times, he put the country’s petrochemical production at 44 million tons in the previous calendar year.

The new cooperation documents were signed at Tehran’s Saadabad Cultural Complex between Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkit Jatosi Pitak.
Tehran and Thailand have agreed accordingly agreed to cooperate in economic, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, scientific and standards fields.
The economic cooperation documents between Iran and Thailand were initially signed by the Iranian minister of industries, mines and commerce and the Thai economy minister.
The documents of the 9th Joint Economic Commission of Iran and Thailand were initially signed by the Iranian minister of industries, mines and the Thai foreign minister.
The scientific cooperation document in nanotechnology field was initially signed by the head of Iran’s Special Headquarters for Development of Nanotechnology Technology and the executive manager of Thailand National Nanotechnology Center.
The scientific cooperation document was signed by head of board of directors of Iran’s Sina-Gene Company and the research department manager of Thailand National Research Center in Genetic and biotechnology Field.
The last and 6th cooperation document in standards field was deputy head of the Iranian National Standards Organization and the managing director of Thailand’s Ministry of Industries.
Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Somkit Jatosi Pitak arrived in Tehran on Monday and held talks with high ranking Iranian officials on expansion of bilateral economic and commercial affairs in post-sanctions period on Tuesday.
Thailand has announced its objective to initiate billions-of-dollars strong trade with Iran.
Thai 70-member delegation inclusive of merchants and businessmen, industrialists, bankers and managers of small and medium sized industries are willing to develop trade and economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Head of Board of Directors of Sanofi, Venberg said at the signing ceremony attended by President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif and Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education Hassan Qazi Hashemi that no doubt, a new chapter in Iran-France ties has opened concurrent with the removal of anti-Iran sanctions.
He added that Sanofi as the biggest pharmaceutical multinational company in France will be committed to present innovative solutions and new treatment approaches during his presence in Iran.
As per the agreement, Sanof will seek ways to promote cooperation with the Iranian producers and make its experience in the fields of quality standards of medicine, technology of producing medicines available to them, he said.
Sanofi also intends to launch permanent and serious cooperation with Health Ministry in the projects to prevent and contain certain diseases, Venberg said.
Sanofi has studied ways of cooperation with Iran’s scientific community so that it will be able to transfer its knowledge in the field of epidemiologic studies to Iran, he said.
The main goal of the cooperation is management of improving chronic and non-contagious diseases such as diabetes and MS as well as rare diseases.
Sanofi started its activities officially in Tehran in 2006 following the establishment of a representative office in the capital.