Iran Foreign Ministry’s Economic Initiative Commended

A lawmaker underlined the need to facilitate the implementation of the government’s plans aimed at boosting foreign trade in the wake of the country’s relief from economic sanctions under the nuclear agreement.

Commending the Foreign Ministry’s establishment of an economic office, Majid Kianpour also told ICANA on Friday that attracting foreign investment should be the focus of our attention in the post-JCPOA era and the government should actively pursue this objective.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the deal is officially known, has been in effect since January 2016 to swap temporary curbs on Tehran’s nuclear work for the removal of sanctions.

A combination of domestic conservative resistance to engagement with the western world and the US hostile measures and residual non-nuclear sanctions has complicated President Hassan Rouhani’s efforts to open the underperforming economy to foreign investment.

The recently reelected president has re-nominated Mohammad Javad Zarif to lead the Foreign Ministry for a second consecutive four-year term.

Zarif told the parliament during his confirmation hearing earlier this week that his ministry has set up an economic office tasked with spearheading the coordination of Iran’s economic activities abroad.

“The new economic office was established as part of the government’s plan to promote economic diplomacy,” Kianpour said.