Head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Mohsen Jalalpour and Britain's Treasury Minister Damian Hinds in Tehran on Monday underlined the need to revive Tehran-London economic cooperation
In the meeting, which took place one day after the re-opening of British Embassy in Tehran, Jalalpour said, "During sanctions, Britain exerted the most pressure on Iranian companies and business corporations. The fact is that our industries today should take the greatest caution when purchasing British machinery and technology because they feel in case of a future political problem, any trade ban will inflict great damage on them."
Jalalpour added that Britain must make efforts to change such skeptical mindset of Iranian businessmen, IRNA reported.
"At the moment, oil and energy are not the top priority of Iran's economy; rather, those active in the private sector have many prospects to expand business ties in fields such as tourism, knowledge-based companies, harmaceuticals, life sciences among others," the official said.
He underscored the safe and promising investment environment in Iran, saying the country is ready to expand cooperation with British companies in the fields of energy, petrochemical industry, transportation, environment, wastewater treatment, desalination, technology, nanotechnology, ICT, and knowledge-based economy.
Hinds also called for the revival of relations is one of the British government's priorities, saying despite sanctions, such meetings will be highly effective in bilateral relations in the future.
Iran and Britain can be good business partners and the main objective of the Tehran visit of the British delegation is to explore potential grounds for bilateral cooperation, Hinds said.
On his one-day visit to Tehran, Hinds was accompanied by senior officials from UK Trade and Investment Organization, the British Bankers' Association, the Institute of Directors and The Confederation of British Industries
.