Call for Encouraging Expat Investments

As the country is once again challenged with new US sanctions, the skills and capital of foreign-based Iranians should be used to keep the wheels of the economy turning, says an official,

“The value [that can be] created by Iranian expatriates is very high and we should pave the way for facilitating their participation in economic development,” Ali Asghar Mohammadi, head of the secretariat of High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad, said at a meeting with the mayor of Tabriz, Iraj Shahin-Baher, on Monday, IRNA reported.

Mohammadi noted that large numbers of Iranians are successful and influential in different fields, including science, technology, industry and investment, in other countries, which can and should be considered an “opportunity”.

The mayor of Tabriz, the capital of East Azarbaijan Province, said it is necessary to encourage Iranian investors based abroad to get involved in domestic projects.

No official statistics have been released recently on the number of Iranian expatriates. However, in 2014, Javad Qavam Shahidi, a senior official at the High Council of Iranian Affairs Abroad, said 5 to 6 million Iranians live outside the country.

In 2015, he had said foreign-based Iranians are worth an estimated $2 trillion. It is believed that almost eight million Iranians now live outside the country, mainly in the western world.