President Hassan Rouhani underscored the necessity of promoting economic diplomacy, calling on diplomats to step up efforts to help attract foreign investment and revive the export sector.
Rouhani was quoted as saying by IRNA, "Economic diplomacy is a pillar of Resistance Economy," a set of principles set out by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to bolster domestic production and cut reliance on oil revenues.
The president underlined the role of diplomats in wooing foreign investors and boosting exports. "The [primary] mission of Iran's ambassadors after the removal of international sanctions is to help attract [foreign] investment and establish technological cooperation [with other countries] to develop Iran's export market."
Rouhani made the statements in a speech at the conference of heads of Iran's diplomatic missions in Tehran on Monday.
Economic diplomacy uses all economic tools of the state to promote national interests. It includes activities, including but not limited to export, import, investment, lending and free trade agreements.
Iran will be granted sanctions relief after fully implementing its commitments under a nuclear pact it struck with P5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany) on July 14.
"To keep up with rivals in today's highly competitive global economy, Iran needs to secure a decent position in the international economic community to have a say on economic decisions on the global scale," Rouhani said.
"It is among the major responsibilities of ambassadors" to help accomplish the objective."
The president noted that the government's success in "cutting inflation and containing recession sent a strong, effective message to the governments of the other parties to the [nuclear] negotiations" that Iran is able to mitigate the impact of sanctions through appropriate measures.
"The win-win approach adopted after about 22 months of successful talks leading to the accord can be effectively applied to regional problems as well," he said.
"All regional issues can be addressed through political solutions and such solutions involve dialogue."
