Page 42 - IRANRptJul19

Mehr News Agency reported.
Chinese visitors to Iran, both business and touristic, are looking to the country with increasing interest as Iran continues to integrate with other Asian countries, including the Chinese One Belt, One Road (OBOR) project. Increasing numbers of Chinese are also now learning Persian in Iran with families sending their children to learn more about the Persian culture. Although officially aimed at Chinese tourists, the new cabinet decision would include visiting businesspeople from China and those meeting with a local business.
“As part of the policy, Chinese tourists visiting Iran will not have to obtain visas, from now on,” Vali Teymouri said to journalists.
The visa policy follows that of Iran’s relaxation of visiting citizens of several countries including the Caucasus , Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) , Turkey and India .
The decision to relax restrictions on visiting Chinese comes as part of a raft of different moves by the government in Tehran to remove obstacles for trade amid US sanctions placed on the country.
Iran hopes that if it removes restrictions on visitors from China, it can offset the damage US sanctions are continuing to do to the country. The White House is attempting to strangle the Iranian economy as part of its campaign against the ruling clerical regime in Iran.
Earlier in May, Iran moved ahead with plans to no longer stamp the passports of those visiting the Islamic Republic , both business and tourist – in a bid to boost trade following the US’ decision to ban visa-free access to people who had visited the country.
Iran began to relax its visa issuance for visitors in 2016 after the nuclear deal took effect. The US unilaterally walked out of the nuclear deal the following year. Visas-on-arrival were made available to nationals of 42 countries. Shortly after, the country started an e-visa pilot under which people fill in their details before arrival in Iran and pay in cash for an e-visa at the border entry point . Iran previously waived visa requirements for citizens of seven countries—namely Azerbaijan, Syria, Turkey, Georgia, Bolivia, Egypt and Lebanon—and has said it intends to ease visa restrictions for citizens of another 28 countries by the end of the 2019/2020 Persian year, which falls next March.
Foreigners making use of Iran’s vast medical sector are generating annual revenue of $1.2bn, Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said at a recent conference in Tehran, the Financial Tribune reported on June 20. Given that the value of the Iranian rial (IRR) has collapsed by around 65% since March 2018, around when it was becoming clear that the US was set to switch back to imposing heavy sanctions on Iran, ‘medical tourists’, including many from Arabian countries in the Persian Gulf region, have found extra incentive to flock to the Islamic Republic for medical services. The depreciation made the cost of treatments including rhinoplasty, weight loss surgery and hair replacement very much cheaper.
“The number of foreign nationals travelling to Iran to receive medical care has increased by 10 times over the past decade to reach 300,000 per year,” the minister was also quoted as saying.
Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Azerbaijanis and Pakistanis are in particular very much known to make extensive use of Iran’s modern medical facilities, which to people of these nationalities are often cheaper to use than what’s on offer back home.
Looking at the potential for drawing in more medical tourists, Harirchi noted that the populations of Central Asian countries add up to around 500mn
42 IRAN Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com