Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh hosted a meeting with a visiting economic delegation of industrial and business executives from Japan.
Slated to visit Iran for two days, the Japanese delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday, August 08, to hold talks with Iranian officials now that the prospect for the lifting of western sanctions on Iran's over its nuclear program is the brightest.
"Japan's oil recovery from Iran fell during recent years because of the restrictions, and I hope economic relations between the two countries will reach its climax by the sanctions relief," said Zangeneh during the meeting.
He underlined the old-time presence of Japanese companies in Iran's oil and gas sectors, and said Japan has been one of Iran's chief crude oil extractors.
The Japanese delegation which is led by State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Daishiro Yamagiwa comprises trade officials and executives of major industries such as Mitsui & Co., Kansai Paint Co., Sanden Holdings, Nippon Steel, Sojitz, ITOCHU and Kamematu.
Their two-day visit to Iran is the first by a Japanese trade delegation in 14 years.
The delegation is the latest of a series of foreign delegations who have started off a trek to Iran in pursuit of normalizing ties with the country's industrial and business sectors ever since it reached a historic nuclear deal with world powers in Vienna.