Iran, Austria Planning to Triple Trade Exchanges: Minister

“Currently, the value of Iran’s trade exchanges with Austria is $300 million,” Tayyebnia said in a meeting with Austrian Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner in Tehran.

The two countries decided in the meeting to triple the value to $1 billion, the Iranian minister announced, expressing the hope that the two sides would achieve the target in the future given the existing fields of cooperation.

Tayyebnia further noted that the meeting can be a turning point in the expansion of Iran-Austria cooperation, and expressed the hope for immediate resolution of limitations and problems on the way.

“A number of investment projects have been offered by Iran to the Austrian side, some of which were accepted and negotiations are underway to operationalize them,” he added.

Mitterlehner, for his part, said Vienna is very eager to start what the two sides have agreed upon as soon as the recent nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers comes into force.

He further noted that the two countries have serious resolve for the promotion of bilateral ties, and Austria attaches great significance to its relations with a country like Iran.

The Austrian minister is in Iran as part of a high-ranking delegation of economic, scientific and cultural officials headed by President Heinz Fischer, who arrived in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Monday afternoon for an official three-day visit.

The visit comes against a backdrop of global enthusiasm for closer ties with Iran after finalization of the text of a lasting nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in Vienna, Austria.

The Austrian president, whose country played host to several rounds of marathon nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six powers, had earlier expressed the confidence that the visit would bring the Iranian and Austrian nations closer together.

He is the first head of a western state visiting Iran for many years.