Iran signs industrial cooperation deal with Nordic states

Tehran (ISNA) - Iran has signed an agreement with Sweden, Denmark and Finland to cooperate over joint industrial projects.The agreement was signed between the ambassadors of the three countries and the head of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO).

Finland’s ambassador to Iran Keijo Norvanto in a Twitter message said the agreement was meant to promote collaboration in a variety of technical areas.

They, Norvanto emphasized, included oil and gas, high-tech, transportation, renewable energies, manager training, industrial renovation, steel, water, investment and finance, Press TV reported.  

Iran’s media also quoted Swedish ambassador to Iran Helena Sangeland as saying after signing the agreement with IDRO that her country was interested in promoting economic relations with Iran, stressing that Swedish private sector enterprises were specifically interested in cooperating with their Iranian peers.    

Furthermore, Denmark’s ambassador to Iran Danny Annan was quoted as saying his country was interested in expanding cooperation with the Islamic Republic over the production of solar panels.

The director for international affairs of IDRO Ali Araqchi told reporters the idea to sign an industrial cooperation agreement with the three Nordic countries had emerged last year.

Araqchi said the agreement would make IDRO – which is the engineering arm of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade – would make the organization the gateway for the three countries to the industrial sector of the Islamic Republic. 

The official added that the move indicated the willingness of Sweden, Denmark and Finland to enhance relations with Iran. 

Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari said in late February that the country had been able to attract around $10 billion in foreign investments since 2013 when President Hassan Rouhani came to office, Press.

Shariatmadari said this showed the policies of the government to attract foreign investments were paying off even though the country was still grappling with the impacts of the multiple-year US-led sanctions.