Iranians given priority for investment in country: Rouhani

Iranian investors and entrepreneurs are given precedence as far as making investment in the country’s economic sector is concerned, says President Hassan Rouhani.

“Iranian entrepreneurs, managers and investors both inside and outside the country always take priority when it comes to presence in different economic domains in the country,” said President Rouhani in a meeting in New York with Iranian elites and entrepreneurs residing in the United States.

President Rouhani is in New York to attend the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

He said there is very good potential for investment and entrepreneurship in Iran, touching upon the “special conditions” created for economic development in the country following the conclusion of a nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers.

“Today, good opportunities have been created for further activities in the economic, scientific and industrial sectors, which should be utilized in the best way possible to boost the country’s progress,” said the visiting Iranian president.

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 countries – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – finalized the text of a nuclear agreement dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Under the JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the lifting of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

Referring to the unfair sanctions imposed on Iran over its peaceful nuclear program, the president said the country made great achievements while under sanctions.

“One of the reasons behind the success in the [Vienna] talks was that the negotiators of the other side found out that Iran is able to revamp its economy [even] when under sanctions, and that they cannot gain concessions from us,” said the president.

He said the Americans have committed “injudicious and unacceptable” acts against the Iranian nation over the past decades, namely the US’ shooting down of an Iranian airliner and its support for the former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein during the eight-year Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Nevertheless, the president emphasized, “The Iranian people have no problems with the American people and [they] respect one another.”