Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture hosted the Iran-New Zealand Economic Forum on Saturday.
Present at the gathering were New Zealand’s Trade Minister Todd McClay and his accompanying 30-strong trade delegation. The delegates represented economic sectors of the South Pacific country, including agriculture, food, new energies and tourism.
The New Zealand companies accompanying McClay on his visit are NIG Nutritionals, Tait Communications, Enatel Limited, Sealord, Silver Fern Farms, Westland Milk Products, Fonterra, FrameCAD, Flight Coffee, Switchfloat, University of Canterbury, University of Auckland, ANZCO, Auckland University of Technology, Pacific Helmets, Pelco NZ, NZ Bankers Association, and Pultron Composites.
This is the New Zealanders’ first trade mission to Tehran in 12 years aimed at reviving exports to Iran after the lifting of nuclear sanctions against the country.
"Iran has traditionally been a very important market for our sheep meat and butter. However, exports have diminished over a number of years," McClay said before arriving in Tehran on Friday.
"Since the lifting of UN sanctions, there are now renewed opportunities to reestablish this trade as well as new opportunities in the education, construction, food and beverage, energy, forestry, specialized manufacturing and services sectors," he said.
New Zealand officially lifted its United Nations sanctions against Iran in February. In March, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited New Zealand as part of an Asia-Pacific tour to encourage international businesses to invest and do business in Iran again.
McClay quoted Zarif as saying that Iran presented a $1 billion opportunity for New Zealand.
"This mission will be an important first step towards delivering on this exciting opportunity," said McClay.