Iran, China Forge Closer Financial Partnership: Minister

Addressing Iran-China Investment and Business Cooperation Forum here in Tehran Sunday, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh announced that the two Asian countries have made strides for enhancing trade ties, including initiatives to open more letters of credit.

“We expect that apart from the financial support of the projects, the cooperation between Iran and China would increase in the field of (Chinese) direct investment (in Iran),” the minister added.

Nematzadeh also voiced his ministry’s determination to boost interaction with China, and stressed, “Though the volume of trade ties between Iran and China shows remarkable numbers each year, those figures are not sufficient given the country’s potential and capacity.”

He further unveiled China’s commitment to financing a series of projects in Iran, and added, “Over the past two years, Iran and China have signed nearly $20 billion of trade agreements, half of which are on the verge of credit opening.”

Earlier in February, Iranian minister of economic affairs and finance, Ali Tayyebnia, and his visiting Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to increase the two countries' annual non-oil trade to $20bln.

The comprehensive cooperation agreement was signed in a meeting in Tehran during the 15th Session of Iran-China Joint Economic Cooperation Commission.

“The Iranian government has always been interested in developing relations with major and influential countries, and because of good cooperation in the past I think there are broad potentials for the development of bilateral cooperation between the two countries,” Tayyebnia said at the time.

The two sides also expressed the hope that the two side would achieve the $20 billion non-oil trade ties within the next two years.