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prevention deal with India
Iran has so far never signed a double taxation deal with another country. Imports from India of staples including rice and efforts to overcome importers’ tax evasion would be boosted were such an agreement to be ratified.
The agreement would stimulate investment, technology and personnel flows from Iran to India and vice versa, as well as prevent double taxation, Rouhani said.
Iran's parliament approved a draft of the agreement in July and the same month India approved a first version of the deal.
A spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s economic commission, Mehdi Toghyani, said at the time: “If a businessman is supposed to pay taxes in one country, they should not pay taxes in other countries so as not to suffer added costs.”
India and Iran have continued to push ahead with plans to integrate their economies despite pressure from the US on New Delhi not to do so.
The Indian ambassador to Tehran said in late July that the US cannot dictate to New Delhi​ w​ hen it comes to India’s activities ​founded on the long-term leasehold it has on part of Iran’s sole oceanic port, Chabahar.
India and Iran signed for the joint development of the Gulf of Oman port more than 20 years ago. For India, the port serves as a trade flow gateway to export routes into the Islamic Republic, Afghanistan and Central Asian countries including Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The US has actually granted a sanctions exemption on the development of Chabahar given its importance to the development of Afghanistan’s war-torn economy.
6.1.2​ Budget dynamics - funding, privatisation
Iran to issue sukuk worth up to $217mn to fund oil and natural gas projects
Iran aims to privatise 600 companies in current Persian year
Iran is planning to issue sukuk securities worth up to $217mn to fund oil and natural gas projects, the country’s official energy news portal SHANA reported on May 2.
Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri reportedly signed off on the decision to ahead with the issuance, authorised under the annual state budget. It will permit the oil, energy and industry ministries to issue sukuk—Islamic sharia-compliant bonds—with a value of up to Iranian rial (IRR) 35 trillion ($217mn at the free market exchange rate).
Foreign investors, including France’s Total, have withdrawn from Iran’s oil and gas industry since the US reimposed heavy sanctions on the Islamic Republic in May 2018. Under those sanctions, the US initially issued waivers that allowed designated countries to import Iranian crude oil without fear of penalties being pursued by Washington, but in May 2019 it switched to a policy of attempting to drive all oil exports from Iran off world markets. There have since been widely varying reports on how successful Iran has been at exporting oil through grey market channels.
The head of the Iranian Privatisation Organisation (IPO) has announced that some 600 companies are to be fully or partially sold to private buyers in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year (started March 21), IBENA reported on April 28.
The Rouhani administration is under growing pressure to allow more assets on
28​ IRAN Country Report December 2020 www.intellinews.com