Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

The removal of international sanctions earlier imposed on Iran over its nuclear energy program serves as an incentive for the country to attract partners from around the world and cooperate in different spheres.

Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said on October 23 that Iran and Austria's longstanding ties in the fields of economic and trade cooperation are expanding after Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), IRNA reported.

He made the remarks in meeting with visiting Vice-Speaker of Austrian parliament Karlheinz Kopf.

Larijani said that development of parliamentary relations will play an important role to expand friendly cooperation and the Iranian parliament supports such ties.

Larijani expressed deep concern about worsening the humanitarian situation in the Middle East region, saying that Iran has always underlined the importance of dialogue and political negotiations as the sole way to resolve the humanitarian crises, instead of using military forces.

He said that considering commonalities between Iran and Austria on many regional issues, the two countries may cooperate on the economy, energy, science, environment and modern technologies.

Karlheinz Kopf, in turn, expressed pleasure with his visit to Iran and said that development of ties with Iran, as an important state in the region and world, is so important for Austria.

Kopf said that parliamentary relations and friendship among MPs of both countries will pave the way for the development of cooperation in other sectors.

Kopf arrived in Tehran on October 22 evening at the invitation of Majlis Vice-Speaker Masoud Pezeshkian.

He is due to meet with senior Iranian officials during his four-day stay in Iran.

Austria and Iran have had historically strong trade ties that date back to the 18th century.

Although Austria has long been one of the European countries which boosted its exports to Iran despite sanctions efforts, due to the sanctions the Austrian-Iran trade volume has declined during the last years.

Austria’s current trade turnover over with Iran amounts up to $320 million, while the two countries intend to increase the trade volume up to $500 million after the complete removal of the sanctions.

About 650 Austrian companies are doing business in Iran. 35 of them have their own representations in the country. Numerous renowned Austrian companies have taken part in various trade fairs and industry exhibitions in Tehran over the last years to initiate business.

In the first quarter of 2015, Austrian exports saw a dramatic jump by over 60 percent, which is also expected to further increase following the removal of sanctions.

In addition, Iran has recently announced its will to boost ties with European countries in the aftermath of sanctions removal.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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