Iran’s Economy Minister Tayebnia said volume of trade turnover between Iran and Austria will climb from the current $400 million to five billion dollars.
Ali Tayebnia, at a meeting with Austrian Federal Minister of Finance Hans Jörg Schelling in Tehran, said “following my last year visit to the European country, during which constructive talks were conducted on expansion of bilateral economic ties, a number of working groups were formed to discuss issues of mutual interest like avoidance of double taxation, customs cooperation agreement and agreements on encouraging and supporting foreign investment and developing banking relations between the two countries.”
The Iranian official said his current visit aims at reviewing previous agreements and taking relevant measures. He expressed optimism that upcoming meetings with various Iranian ministers will lead to fruitful outcomes.
Iranian economy minister said, despite the wide gap between the current turnover and the envisaged one, capacities and capabilities of the two sides make the goal attainable.
“Iran and Austria have held positive and constructive political relations over the past 454 years,” highlighted the official expressing hope that economic ties will match up with political ones.
He said the Polish delegation is scheduled to meet and talk with Iranian mines and petroleum ministers on Monday.
Austrian Federal Minister of Finance Hans Jörg Schelling, for his part, called for immediate reinvigoration of relations between Tehran and Vienna and resolving of remaining issues.
He said considerable advancements have been achieved since last year visit of Tayebnia to Austria saying “no efforts will be spared to use Austria’s position in the European Union and other international organizations in favor of Iran.”
“The Austrian government has increased its support of companies willing to operate in Iran and central banks of both sides have agreed to exchange documents in order to reach pre-sanction levels in banking cooperation,” underlined the visiting official.
He said an account had been opened in Central Bank of Austria for the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) following CBI governor’s earlier visit to the European country; “in the meantime, training courses have been defined for Iranian banking experts in the field of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism.”
Hans Jörg Schelling, while pointing to eagerness of Austrian banks to resume activities in Iran, said good talks have been held in area of creating financial guarantees and conducting financial transactions with Iranian banks.
At the end of his remarks, the visiting official also condemned recent terrorist attacks in Tehran and sympathized with families of the bitter incidents.