Martin Johnson, the Director General of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, said on Wednesday that a major British trade delegation will arrive in Iran on Friday for a four-day visit.
Johnson added that the visit will be in line with the efforts by the British companies to set the stage for their future investments in Iran once the sanctions against the country are lifted.
He added that the delegation will try to become familiar with the country's trade atmosphere.
Stressing that the British companies cannot enter into serious relations with Iran yet, Johnson noted however that they can still take steps to become familiar with Iran’s atmosphere, identify the Iranian side and update their contacts and also present their products and services to the Iranian companies.
He said it is important that the companies travel to Iran now and prepare themselves, IRNA reported.
Meanwhile, Sirous Mehdizadeh, a member of Board of Directors of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, said that the British delegation will comprise 15 companies from a variety of fields including health, transportation, mining, and energy.
Mehdizadeh said during the trip the delegation is due to inspect different sectors of Iran’s economy, including the chamber of commerce, the stock exchange, the banks, the Ministry of Industry and Mines and the Ministry of Petroleum.
The visit comes following a flurry of visits to Iran by political and economic delegations from various European countries after the conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, the UK, France, China, and Russia plus Germany – in mid-July, which led to the signing of an agreement between the two sides known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
According to JCPOA, the six countries have agreed to remove sanctions against Iran's economic sectors, including oil and gas industry, in return for limitations in Iran's nuclear program.
The visit also comes after the reopening of the British embassy in Tehran by the country’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in late August.