A business delegation from Singapore is due to pay a visit to Iran in the coming week to scope out trade opportunities in Iran, IRNA reported on Monday.
“The sanctions imposed on Iran by the West have interrupted bilateral trade. However, we hope that trade between the two countries will take a new turn after the sanctions are lifted,” Cody Lee, the senior director of Middle East and Africa department of Singapore Business Federation (SBF), was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Singapore Business Federation is the apex business chamber that champions the interests of the Singapore business community in trade, investment and industrial relations. It represents 21,000 companies, as well as key local and foreign business chambers, that contribute significantly to the Singapore economy.
Established on 1 April 2002 by the SBF Act, all Singapore registered companies with a share capital of S$0.5 million and above are members of SBF.
“The Iran-bound delegation is comprised of representatives from 20 different companies and institutions from Singapore,” Lee said, noting that the Singaporean officials are to be notified of the latest industrial developments in Iran.
As of 2011, the trade turnover between the two countries totaled $5.6 billion per annum. However, it was reduced to $2.100 billion by the end of 2012, mainly as a result of western sanctions on Iran’s banking system and oil industry.
Earlier in December, senior Iranian member of parliament Gholam Reza Mesbahi Moqaddam, who chairs Iran-Singapore parliamentary friendship group, had called for further efforts to deepen relations between the two nations, particularly in terms of economy.
The Singaporean Ambassador to Iran has described bilateral relations between Tehran and Singapore City as “good and positive” and voiced his country’s readiness to improve ties.
