“Economic cooperation between Iran and EU member states dates back to old ages and almost all European giants in the fields of energy, industry, and agriculture have been boldly present in Iran’s market,” said Iran's First Vice-President Es'hagh Jahangiri on Saturday.
The Iranian official made the remark during his meeting with European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan in Tehran. The EU commissioner is visiting Tehran in a bid to broaden Iran-EU ties in the fields of agriculture and agricultural products.
“Till before the implementation of sanctions, the EU was Iran’s number one trade partner so much so that even some EU member states would solely rank atop economic partners of Iran,” highlighted the Iranian senior official.
“While the imposition of sanctions shrank the volume of trade between Iran and EU, Iranian economy continued its growth trajectory,” reiterated Mr. Jahangiri.
He maintained that the sanctions steered Iran’s economy toward Asian and South Asian countries but the nuclear agreement led to significant growth in Iran-EU economy in 2016 and 2017.
Mr. Jahangiri reassured the EU commissioner that the political inclination to develop relations with the EU is seriously high in Iran and listed the areas of potential cooperation between Iran and EU in fields like energy, industry, agriculture, and service.
“Having these vast areas of potentials provide the chance to have joint projects worth billions of dollars but serious determination is also needed and just talking and signing agreements are not enough,” asserted the Iranian ranking official.
He added that US propaganda hype against the JCPOA and especially Trump’s rhetoric against the agreement are the main political barriers barring the development of ties between Iran and EU.
“Trump started the media hype against the JCPOA even before assuming the White House office and even now in addition to continuing to charge the hype is imposing new unilateral sanctions against Iran,” regretted Mr. Jahangiri.
“The spirit of the JCPOA is normalization of relations between the sides of the agreement; something which Trump is currently ruining and Tehran expects EU to confront the US seriously,” Mr. Jahangiri urged the EU to not get intimidated by Trump’s behavior.
The EU commissioner in this meeting for his part voiced content with his meeting and negotiations with Iranian agriculture minister describing the meeting as positive and constructive.
“The companies whose representatives are accompanying me in this visit are holding talks with their Iranian partners and currently 250 Iranian and European traders, businessmen and contractors are negotiating for joint cooperation in areas of food industries and agriculture,” said Mr. Hogan wishing to revive the thriving age of Iran-Europe economic ties and relations.
“We are trying to convince the people of Iran and Europe that the JCPOA is a win-win agreement ensuing Iran-Europe relations of win-win nature,” ascertained the European official.
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