French Investors Hope to Return to Previous Status in Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A high ranking official in the largest private-funded organisation said many investors from France are willing to make investments in various economic fields in Iran, including in mining and industrial sectors.
Vice-President and Director General of Medef International, Thierry Courtaign, in a Monday meeting with the managing director of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Mahdi Karbasian said many companies in his country are willing to invest in various economic sectors of Iran.
“Managers of the largest French economic firms from different business fields, many of them involved in mines and mining activities, will visit Iran on February 4-5, 2014," he said.
He said that the French have made preparations for the upcoming visit and will try to present their full capacities for cooperation with the Iranian potential partners.
“In the course of the past week alone, 30 French companies volunteered to joint this economic delegation and visit Tehran," said Thierry Courtaign.
Medef International is the most representative organization of the French private sector at an international level and gathers more than 4,000 French companies already operating in different countries.
Medef International relates international French companies with the world public and private decision-makers to promote or find new sustainable and long-term partnerships between French and foreign companies
On December 15 an Iranian industrial official said that several foreign companies have shown readiness to make investment in Iran’s mining industry, adding that Tehran has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian and Omani officials on forming a joint mining venture.
Mahdi Karbasian, head of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation (IMIDRO), told the Tasnim News Agency that his organization has held several meetings with mining industry officials from Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Australia and Oman over the past months.
He also added that IMIDRO has inked an MoU with Australian and Omani companies to establish a joint company to work on Iran’s lead and zinc mines.
“We predict that we would be able to prepare the ground for investment with the foreign companies more speedily in the near future,” Karbasian said.
According to international figures, Iran stands among the top 15 mineral rich countries in the world and ranks first in the Middle East.
So far many foreign companies in the field of mining equipment and machineries, exploration, extracting, processing and metallurgical industries have shown interest to enter Iran’s mineral market.
The country holds more than seven percent of the total mineral reserves of the globe. It lies on 37 billion tons of proven reserves and holds more than 57 billion tons of potential reserves of some 68 types of minerals, including chrome, coal, copper, gold, iron, lead, tin and zinc.
Iran with roughly one percent of the world population owns more than 7 percent of the total global mineral reserves, a research report has said.
According to the report issued earlier this year by the Iranian Parliament’s Research Center issued earlier this year, Iran ranks 1st in the world in terms of zinc resources, 2nd in copper resources, 9th in iron mines, 10th in uranium mines and 11th in lead mines.
The most important mines in Iran include zinc, copper, iron, uranium and lead. Other mines include coal, chemical minerals, salt, sand and gravel.
