Speaking at a meeting with the visiting Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius, Iran’s Deputy Minister and President of the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance Mohammad Khazaei said the newly singed Memorandum of Understanding marks the fourth agreement signed between Iran and the European countries; “we attach great importance to the accord as a commitment to cooperation between Iran and Lithuania.”
Pointing out the characteristics of Lithuania, Khazaei said “despite its small size, the European country enjoys a high GDP possessing a strong economy compared to its population.”
Deputy economy minister said Iran could launch economic cooperation with Lithuania in two areas of ‘trade and investment’ as well as ‘banking ties’ asserting “being the focal point for export to other countries as well as for investment in agriculture and IT, Iran can prove to be a good business partner for Lithuania.”
Khazaei also voiced readiness to support Lithuanian firms for investment in accordance with Iran's Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act (FIPPA).
The official emphasized the need for banking system as a prerequisite to trade and investment encouraging the presence of Lithuania’s banking sector during forthcoming visits to Iran.
“As for economic cooperation, we attach importance to historical roots of countries rather than their size and breadth,” he stressed.
At the end of his remarks, President of the Iran’s Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance noted that Lithuania has joined the European Union (EU) since 2004; “Iran considers cooperation with Lithuania as enormously important.”
Lithuanian FM Linas Linkevicius, for his part, pointed to his earlier meetings with his Iranian President and FM calling for expansion of bilateral ties between the two countries.
Linkevicius also expressed his country’s readiness to ink various economic and trade MoUs with Iran; “bilateral ties can pertain to agriculture and IT sectors.”
The sealed deal between Iran and Lithuania covers numerous issues including formation of economic cooperation commission, determination of joint collaboration in areas of transport, industry, environment, information technology, agriculture, health and tourism, strengthening and development of bilateral economic relations, diversifying economic ties, creation of a favorable atmosphere for investment as well as facilitating exchange of economic information.
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