HELLO TOMORROW

When Iran started holding international conferences to make it known globally that it was willing to be an active member of the world team, Iran International started thinking about a special issue that would say most of what Iranian authorities wanted to say to their international audience. We thought of a special publication that could serve as a guide to foreign investment in Iran.

However, some major and minor changes in the structure of Iranian economy and administration proved that it was still too early to publish a special issue that could live a long shelf-life. Many of the changes that we were waiting for took place eventually: The budget bill has passed through the ratification process, the Third Development Plan has been launched, five new ministers joined the Cabinet, four ministries merged into two, the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations started and President Mohammad Khatami’s administration is nearly completing its four-year term.
These are the developments that seem to be effective in terms of economy and economic relations. But another major development is under way: a review of the rules and regulations pertaining to the attraction and protection of foreign investment in Iran. That is where articles and interviews of the following pages find greater significance.

A Few Basic Facts
Iran experienced a revolution followed by eight years of war. It tolerated economic sanctions, severe drop of oil prices and even trespassing on her western and eastern borders. However, it was tempered through ups and downs to launch two 5-year economic development plans, successfully maintaining 10 consecutive years of GDP growth. Nevertheless, the country has now for a decade based its economic plans on a ‘peace economy’.
The reform still continues. More officials are stating that attraction of foreign investment is a must. More decision-makers sound in favor of joining the world trade current. The Third Economic Development Plan urges for liberalization and privatization.

Architects of Iranian economy know that within the Third Plan, they must create about 800,000 jobs per year. Absorb $72 billion of investment, or handle 9 million of unemployed population. With such a difficult economic equation, the future of Iran’s economy is saying that failure in investment will be failure in development.
All in all, Iran doesn’t want and doesn’t need to deny its necessity to work with the international community to speed up in the way toward greater, and very indispensable, development. To this end, investment is one of the greatest factors for accomplishing prosperity. It is not merely funds, it is the transfer of technology, development of human resources and modern-day management capabilities that advanced partners around the world can offer Iran.
This is the road taken by others who are now capable, and willing, to collaborate with us in our new endeavor.

Hello, Tomorrow!
In the following pages, you will read interviews and presentations by executives from both the state and private sectors. There are also words from executives and representatives of international companies. Some of them express facts, figures and views on how attractive, how profitable and how convenient it can be to invest in Iran. Some others are not quite satisfied with the status quo and have specific areas to point to. The objective was to be honest in reflecting a true image of Iran and the country’s level of investor-friendliness.
This is our second special issue in six months and all its pages will be included in our March 2001 issue. The first special issue focused on Iran’s participation in Sydney 2000 Olympic Games from which Iranians came back with flying colors. We hope that our country would emerge victorious in this endeavor as well. These two publications are similar in that they both focus on ‘being a part of the world team’.
Regardless of where and when the next investment conference is being held, Iran International is proud to present its Special Issue on “Investing in Iran” as a greeting to the future and all the brilliant examples of partnership and cooperation that it holds.