French bank Societe Generale is willing to start cooperation with Iran’s mining industries, said Richad Soundardjee, the bank’s chief regional officer for Middle East, during a visit to Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation (IMIDRO) Company on Wednesday.
The bank is capable of providing expertise to Iran’s mining sector. “The sector has much potential for development and we hope to start cooperation as soon as possible,” eghtesadnews website quoted him as saying. Mehdi Karbasian, IMIDRO’s managing director, also said some of the domestic mining companies are planning to export their products, namely to regional states.
He added that studies show that Iran’s 57 billion-ton mining resources will increase by 50% in future, which is “good for the sector.” Karbasian also said Coface, France’s export insurer, has started relations with Iran, clearing the way for closer cooperation in the mining sector.
Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation, known as IMIDRO, is a major state-owned holding company active in the mining sector in Iran. IMIDRO has eight major companies and 55 operational subsidiaries active in steel, aluminum, copper, cement and mineral exploitation fields.
Major French lenders including Credit Agricole, Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), Société Générale had announced last month they are prepared to resume working relations with Iran as the sanctions have been lifted. Société Générale is France’s third largest bank by total assets and the seventh largest in Europe.
Coface is in charge of public export guarantees on behalf of the French government with 160,000 clients in 93 countries.
