Page 25 - IRANRptFeb21

Non oil goods trade between Iran and EEU states ‘grows 8% to $3.4bn in first year of PTA’
On the sidelines of the ministerial-level meeting, heads of a number of Iranian and Armenian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) discussed ways to establish an Iranian-Armenian technology exchange centre.
Non-oil goods trade between Iran and the five Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states​—Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia—in the first year since a two-year initial preferential trade agreement (PTA) was launched by Tehran and the trade bloc ​grew by 8% y/y to $3.419bn​, according to Mehr News Agency.
The Iranian news service cited data from the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administation (IRICA) that was quoted by the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI).
The figures also reportedly showed that in the assessed period—October 27, 2019 to October 25, 2020—Iran exported non-oil products valued at over $1.9bn to the EEU, marking an increase of 30% y/y.
Major exports from Iran to the bloc included fruit, fruit products and nuts, including tomato paste grapes, cauliflower and pistachios.
Barley, corn, sunflower oil, lumber, lamb, paper, iron and steel were among the list of items exported from the bloc to Iran.
5.3​ FDI
Iran FDI 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
FDI net inflows (BoP) (USD bn)
4.662 3.05 2.105 2.05 3.372 5.019 2.373 1.508
FDI net inflows (% of GDP)
0.778 0.653 0.487 0.533 0.807 1.127 0.523
FDI net outflows (% of GDP)
0.226 0.04 0.001 0.031 0.025 0.017 0.016
source: World Bank
‘Post Trump’ Iran will not be free for all foreign investors, oil minister warns
‘Post-Trump’ Iran will not be a free-for-all when it comes to foreign investment, the country’s oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has warned.
Foreign companies looking to re-enter the country would be required to work under conditions different to those they secured prior to leaving Iran after the re-introduction of heavy US sanctions against Tehran by US President Donald Trump from 2018, Tasnim news agency reported Zanganeh as saying on January 11. He spoke with hopes rising that US President-elect Joe Biden, set to take office on January 20, will find an arrangement with Tehran that allows him to lift the Trump sanctions.
Prior to the Trump sanctions crackdown, Iran made it easier for foreign companies—including French energy major Total and China’s China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)—to take control of foreign investment projects; however after the Trump sanctions caused foreign investors to flee the country, local companies found themselves alone, struggling to fill the vacuum.
“If foreign companies come [to Iran], we will cooperate with them, but it doesn’t mean that we will abandon what we have achieved [alone during the Trump
25​ IRAN Country Report February 2021 www.intellinews.com