The Iranian minister of economic affairs and finance declared his ministry’s readiness to issue international bonds in order to attract foreign investments.

Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini, who was addressing a conference entitled “international conference To introduce investment opportunities of Khuzestan” in Ahvaz, noted that THE Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance was ready to hand out international bonds, saying, “Given good investment grounds in Iran and suitable investment return, we should be able to attract 20 billion dollars in foreign investment per year and this is by no means ambitious.”

Hosseini added that due to international economic crisis last year, total foreign investment in the world went down by more than 30 percent, but Iran experienced 60 percent growth in foreign investment which indicates the country’s abilities and comparative investment advantages.

Hosseini stated that those who are interested in investing in Iran will not heed the remarks of a few hostile and arrogant states because they are not willing to lose the benefits of investment in Iran.

Chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines also addressed the conference saying that experts should find THE root causes of problems and should see why attraction of foreign investment in Turkey has been 20 times higher than Iran though Turkey lacks a province like Khuzestan with all its oil and gas reserves.

Mohammad Nahavandiyan then criticized the existing situation of foreign investment in the country and noted, “Although Iran ranks 51 among 141 countries in terms of investment potentials, in terms of performance, it ranks 133 and this shows that the way is not paved for the Iranian economy to claim its deserved share of the global economy.”

Nahavandiyan stated that few places in the world enjoy the same strategic advantages as Iran and Khuzestan province for that matter, asking, “Why we have not been able to realize our goal for access to free waters in the Persian Gulf?”

“When it comes to entrepreneurship, the first change which should be made is to give more latitude to the private sector and the sector should not just play a perfunctory role. If we are going to talk to the world in economic terms, we should know that the world wants to deal with our private sector,” he said.

The official added that there should be no discrimination between a private entity and a state-run one in the business sphere of the country.

Pointing to the goal of reaching an 8-percent growth in gross national product, chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines stated that to achieve a growth rate of 8 percent in gross national product, “we would need 380 billion dollars according to standard method and 110 billion dollars per year according to PPP method. Figures on infrastructural investment are much bigger. Domestic and foreign investment need a radical change in our economic approach because the Iranian economy is plagued with a centralized approach.”

Nahavandiyan emphasized that Khuzestan is among those provinces which has suffered the most from government’s control over the economy in the past 80 years, adding, “Most investments in Khuzestan have been made by the government and the private sector has not had an active role in this respect.”

Pointing to nationalization of oil industry in Iran, he added that nationalization meant that people should control the oil industry, not foreigners. “However, it did not mean that the oil industry should be run by the government,” he added.

The official noted that oil industry experts have done a laudable work in Iran, but if this had been done in competition with the private sector, now Iran’s status in world economy and energy economy would have been much higher.

Chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines noted that structural changes in economy by transferring control from government to the private sector should be the main step to be taken in Khuzestan just in the same way that it should happen to the whole of the Iranian economy.

He added that transferring ownership of state-run companies to entities which are still controlled by the government cannot help realization of the general goals of Article 44 of the constitution and cannot increase efficiency and productivity.

He said that according to Paragraph 91 of Article 44 of the constitution, the private sector should be present in economic decision-making centers.