Tehran Chamber of Commerce Opens London Office

Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture opened a new office in London on Monday morning in a ceremony attended by the chamber’s chief, Masoud Khansari, and Chairman of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Lord Lamont.

The main purpose of establishing the office is to ease the attraction of foreign investment into Iran, the news portal of TCCIM reported.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two sides to increase mutual commercial ties, Mehr News Agency reported on Tuesday. TCCIM is a subsidiary of Iran Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, otherwise known as “private sector parliament” and is home to representatives of Tehran-based private sector.

Lord Lamont was appointed UK’s trade envoy to Iran as part of a wider government attempt to reverse Britain’s underwhelming record of exports only three days after international sanctions against Iran were lifted in January 2016.

Lamont has served in successive governments under Margaret Thatcher and John Major for 14 years in the departments of energy, industry, defense and the treasury. He was also chancellor of the exchequer from 1990 to 1993. In a conference on promoting trade with Iran in London in April, former foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, Jack Straw, said his country’s trade with Iran saw a 42% rise over the past year following the implementation of the nuclear agreement.