News / Economy

British business secretary to head high-level delegation to Iran in May

Wednesday, 09 March 2016 11:02 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 March 2016 11:19 AM ]

British Business Secretary Sajid Javid © AFP

British Business Secretary Sajid Javid will travel to Iran for high-level economic and trade talks with Iranian officials, reports say.

Heading Britain’s biggest-ever trade delegation, Sajid is scheduled to visit Iran in May to use the opportunity created following the recent lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, The Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The trade mission will include executives from across the oil and gas, financial services, infrastructure and engineering sectors, said the report.

Sajid is expected to address an Iran investment event in the British capital, London, later on Wednesday.

The report added that Sajid will tell the participants of the summit that Britain’s future as a trading nation cannot depend on engaging only with “easy, familiar trading partners.”

“We can’t afford to stick with what we know,” he will say. “We have to secure new markets for British goods, new sources of foreign investment.”

Javid will, meanwhile, announce that Britain’s export credits agency, UK Export Finance, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its Iranian counterpart, the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran.

“Trade opens doors. It provides a platform on which to build diplomatic relations,” he will say at the event. “It creates influence and leverage when it comes to negotiation and builds a bulwark against political instability.”

The announcement came weeks after the enforcement of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the P5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany – had reached the JCPOA in July 2015. The deal went into force on January 16.

After the JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US were lifted. Iran, in return, has put some limitations on its nuclear activities.

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