Exchange of information facilitates economic cooperation, head of Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industries

The economic cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Moldova is inferior to the existing potential, but the situation can be changed by reciprocally informing the sides and by intensifying contacts between the economic entities of the two states, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture of Iran Mohammad Nahavandian said in a meeting with a group of Moldovan journalists who paid a fact-finding visit to Iran, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Our economic cooperation does not correspond to the existing potential. To a certain extent, this is due to the lack of information. I hope that the visit by the Moldovan journalists will contribute to a broader informing of the sides. Through your agency, I want to send an invitation to the Moldovan economic entities and to the head of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of Moldova to visit our country with the aim of developing our economic relations,” said the Iranian official. According to him, Iran is known more for its energy capacities. “This is not accidental because our reserves of gas and oil are the largest in the world. But our economy is represented not only by the energy. We are glad that owing to our investments in the human resources, we have have a trained population over the last 20 years and this is the stimulus for the country’s development. That’s why, in such new branches as the nanotechnology, information technology, and biotechnology, we managed to achieve good results. Besides human resources, during the last 20 years we made enormous investments in infrastructure: in building roads, communications, electric power supply and gas supply, etc. The result of these investments is that our industry, including the agrifood industry, obtained possibilities of producing and of having access not only to the home market, which has over 70 million people, but also to the markets of the neighboring states and regions with a population of 300 million. The statistics on the exports that have coastally increased during 10 years show this,” said Mohammad Nahavandian. Asked if Iran may contribute to the diversification of Moldova’s energy resources at a time when the country fully depends on Russia’s gas supplies and has limited possibilities for diversifying other energy resources, the Iranian official said that his country is interested in implementing joint projects with Moldova and other European states. “The gas industry in Iran is developing very generically. Our priority until now was to cover the internal necessities, but this stage was already overcome. The export of gas is now a more important issue. You know that Iran ranks second by the reserves of gas in the world and we do not have limits in this respect. That’s why, in many strategic researches in the filed, our resources are obligatorily taken into account. For example, our economic opportunity of the Nabucco gas duct depends on Iran’s participation. If we do not take part, the project will be practically closed. Iran announced that it is ready to cooperate with the European states in the provision with gas. That’s why, as regards Moldova and other European states, for us it is interesting to study and to invest together in projects of the kind,” said Mohammad Nahavandian. In another meeting with the Moldovan journalists, Iran’s Ambassador to Moldova base din Kiev Akbar Ghasemi Ali Abadi said that a number of visits will be made by representatives of Iran to Moldova in the near future, including a response visit by the Iranian journalists. “If we go through this winter well, a number of organizations from Iran will come to Chisinau to stage an exhibition of Iranian products at the international exhibitions center Moldexpo. We will also create conditions for the Moldovan producers to stage an exhibition in Iran,” he stated. He also said that over the last 15 years Iran and Moldova have signed 11 agreements that laid a solid basis for developing the bilateral relations. A part of them need to be renewed or amended. According to official Iranian sources, the country’s Gross Domestic Product is US$990.219 billion, being the 17th largest in the world. Iran is a leader by the reserves of fuels. It produces 13 million tonnes of steel a year, taking the 17th position by this index. By the production of cars, it ranks 13th, by the number of launched satellites – 9th, by the number of scientific works in the field of nanotechnology – 10th, and by the development pace of science – 1st in the word. Iran has a population of 75 million people. The data are based on the situation in 2011. The Moldovan journalists’ visit to Iran was made at the invitation of the independent Iranian news agency “Fars” and was organized by the Embassy of Iran in Moldova, based in Kiev, and the Embassy of Moldova in Ukraine.