Chinese Investment Inflows in Iran Planned to Hit $10 Billion

The 15th meeting of the Iran-China Joint Economic Cooperation Commission kicked off in Tehran on Friday morning.

The two countries’ officials held negotiations to give a fresh impetus to economic relations between Tehran and Beijing.

One of the main plans discussed in the meeting was to hike up the volume of direct investment made by the Chinese companies in Iran to $10 billion, up from the current $4.5 billion.

Iran-China Joint Economic Cooperation Commission also drew up plans to increase the volume of non-oil trade between the two countries to $40 billion.

The volume of non-oil trade between Iran and China has stood at $11.5 billion during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (started on 21 March 2013), with China having exported $6.5 billion worth of goods to Iran during that period.

Such amount of exports has turned China into Iran’s second-largest trading partner.

The meeting, which is planned to extend into Saturday, will also see the two sides discuss issues of mutual interests, including cooperation in the fields of technology, industry and mine, industrial parks, and transportation.

Earlier in January, China’s Ambassador to Tehran Yu Hongyan voiced the Chinese traders' willingness to invest in Iran, saying his embassy is trying to pave the ground for the activities of Chinese traders and investors in the Islamic Republic.

In recent years Iran-China trade has grown steadily commensurate with China’s growing reliance on foreign energy and Western companies leaving the Iranian market.