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 Iran's Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza
Nematzadeh said the Islamic Republic would focus on its oil and gas,
metals and car industries with an eye to exporting to Europe after
sanctions have been lifted, rather than simply importing Western
technology.
"We are looking for a two-way trade as well as cooperation in
development, design and engineering," Nematzadeh told a conference
in Vienna.
"We are no longer interested in a unidirectional importation of
goods and machinery from Europe," he said.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday endorsed a deal to end
years of economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its
nuclear programme.
Sanctions are unlikely to be removed until next year, as the deal
requires approval by the U.S. Congress. Nuclear inspectors must also
confirm that Iran is complying with the deal. [ID:nL1N10231M]
While the Iranian and U.S. presidents have been promoting the
accord, hardliners in Tehran and Washington have spoken out strongly
against it.
Many European companies have already shown interest in
reestablishing business in Iran, with Germany sending its economy
minister Sigmar Gabriel on the first top level government visit to
Tehran in 13 years together with a delegation of leading business
figures. [ID:nL5N1001BN]
 Iran's deputy oil minister for commerce and international affairs,
Hossein Zamaninia, said Tehran had identified nearly 50 oil and gas
projects worth $185 billion that it hoped to sign by 2020.
OPEC-member Iran has the world's largest gas reserves and is fourth
on the global list of top oil reserves holders.
NEW, LONGER CONTRACTS
In preparation for negotiations with possible foreign partners,
Zamaninia said Iran had defined a new model contract which it calls
its integrated petroleum contract (IPC).
"This model contract addresses some of the deficiencies of the old
buyback contract and it further aligns the short- and long-term
interests of parties involved," he said.
He said the deals would last 20-25 years - much longer than the
previously less popular buybacks, which effectively were fee paying
deals with global oil majors such as France's Total for services
they performed on Iranian oil fields.
He said Iran would introduce the projects it has identified and the
new contract model within 2-3 months.
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Deputy Economy Minister Mohammad Khazaei said Iran had already
completed negotiations with some European companies wanting to
invest in the country.
"We are recently witnessing the return of European investors to the
country. Some of these negotiations have concluded, and we have
approved and granted them the foreign investment licences and
protections," Khazaei told the conference.
"Even in the past couple of weeks we have approved more than $2
billion of projects in Iran by European companies," he said, without
naming the firms or providing further details.
Most European oil majors and oil service companies have so far
expressed caution about the prospects of a windfall of deals in
Iran, saying their compliance departments will want to first see
sanctions being fully removed before any meaningful work can start
on projects.
Beyond oil, Nematzadeh said Iran was looking to move away from state
ownership in many sectors, creating joint ventures for auto parts
manufacturers with the aim to produce 3 million vehicles by 2025, of
which a third would be exported.
Central bank deputy governor Akbar Komijani said Iran's financial
sector was offering opportunities for cooperation between domestic
banks and foreign investors.
Nematzadeh said Iran aimed to join the World Trade Organization once
political obstacles were removed and would be interested in trade
deals with Europe and central Asian countries.
(Writing by Christopher Johnson and Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by
Jason Neely and Giles Elgood)
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