The UK government fully supports expansion of trade relations with Iran. The statement was made by Campbell Keir, energy and UK infrastructure director at UK Trade and Investment at the Global Diplomatic Forum in London on Tuesday.
“The UK government fully supports expanding our trade relations with Iran and we would encourage UK businesses to take advantage of the commercial opportunities that will arise from sanctions relief,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
UK Export Finance, Britain’s export credit agency, has reintroduced cover to support UK companies seeking to compete for business in Iran.
The agency confirmed that cover is now available on a case-by-case basis in pounds sterling and euros.
Within this framework and in recognition of the UK’s place as a global center of excellence for financial and professional services, UKEF will make available a £50 million facility guaranteeing payments to UK professional advisory service providers advising the government of Iran.
To improve UK-Iran trade, UKEF will work directly with the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.
Iran Trade Envoy Takes Lead
“Iran is the world’s biggest emerging market since the collapse of the Soviet Union 25 years ago,” the newly-appointed UK trade envoy to Iran, Lord Lamont, said, adding that Britain is languishing behind rivals in its share of business.
The former chancellor is full of optimism about the money UK firms could make if they seize the opportunities opened up by the lifting of sanctions.
“Iran has the fourth-biggest oil reserves in the world and the second-biggest gas reserves. Put the two together and it is the most energy-rich country in the world,” he told British newspaper The Independent.
“And unlike some other oil producers, Iran has other aspects to its economy. It has zinc, copper, aluminum. There is a motor car industry that will probably want to operate in conjunction with foreign companies.”
Lord Lamont, however, noted that the UK’s trade is miles behind other countries’.
“It is one-20th of Germany’s, and lower even than the US, for whom trade with Iran is theoretically illegal. There is a tremendous opportunity to catch up,” he said.
Presiding over the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Lord Lamont was appointed to his new role three days after the implementation of the July nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. He is one of 12 trade envoys appointed by David Cameron who has set a target of doubling the UK’s annual exports to £1 trillion by 2020.
Caption: Lord Lamont, the newly-appointed UK trade envoy to Iran, is full of optimism about the money UK firms could make if they seize the opportunities opened up by the lifting of sanctions.
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