European countries, including Germany and Austria, are eager to fund the required finance for domestic industrial projects in Iran, Iranian Deputy Industries, Mines and Trade Minister Mehdi Karbasian said.
“A German company has newly voiced its readiness to provide finance and make investments in a domestic steel project,” Karbasian said in the launch ceremony of Khamrood Coal Mine on Sunday.
“We held talks with the German company about eight months ago and they eventually announced their readiness to cooperate last night,” he said.
Karbasian referred to the outcomes of the two-day “Iran-EU Conference on Trade and Investment” held in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna on July 23, and said that “the European banking system, specifically in Austria, is also interested to back us via funding the needed finance.”
He additionally addressed the issue of importing technology to Iran, and said that “during the negotiations with international companies, Iran stressed the vitality of importing technological know-how from foreigners above and beyond receiving their finance.”
The Iran-EU Conference was Iran’s first foreign business meeting after reaching a nuclear agreement with P5+1 (the five permanent members of UN Security Council plus Germany) in Vienna on July 14.