The number of foreign delegations that arrived in Iran in the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2016) equals the total visits paid in the past 25 years, a member of the board of directors at Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
“We are seeing Iran strengthening its trade ties with other countries, thanks to the conclusion of the nuclear deal,” ICCIMA news portal quoted Hossein Pir-Moazzen as saying.
According to a report by Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, about 145 trade missions, including more than 3,760 officials, major and small business players and investors from 48 countries, visited Iran last year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s January visit was among the most notable trips. During the visit, Tehran and Beijing set the target of pushing bilateral trade to a whopping $600 billion in the next 10 years—almost 10 times the current figure.
Other visiting world leaders included Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann, President of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and South African President Jacob Zuma, all of whom led large business delegations.
Earlier, high-profile visits were made by President of Austria Heinz Fischer and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September and November respectively. Presidents of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Greece, Ghana and Iraq have also paid visits.
During this period, Germany, Italy, France, Denmark, Slovakia, Brazil, Thailand, Britain, Japan, China, Lebanon, Oman, Turkey, Serbia, Venezuela, South Africa, Kazakhstan, India, Russia, the Netherlands, Indonesia, South Korea, Poland, Thailand, Czech Republic, Pakistan, Switzerland, Hungary, Tunisia, Belgium, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Croatia, Kenya, Guinea, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Armenia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Ukraine, Uganda and Spain also sent ministers, top officials and business delegations to Tehran.
