The Islamic Republic of Iran foreign investment hits record

The Islamic Republic of Iran has beaten a historical record in attracting direct foreign investments, says the head of Iran’s Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance.

“In 2010, the country has broken a record in attraction of direct foreign investment, and statistics indicate that we had the highest [investment] attraction rate compared with all the previous years,” Behrouz Alishiri told the Iranian government’s official website (president.ir) on Saturday.

Alishiri, however, pointed out that it takes a month to release the exact figure for the investment growth.

The Iranian official also noted that in the next Persian calendar year, Iran plans to boost its attraction of foreign investment by 50 percent.

In 2009, the Islamic Republic also saw the highest rate of foreign investment attraction and with an 86-percent growth, the figure hit the all-time record of $3 billion, and ranked Iran among the top six countries in this respect, he pointed out.

Alishiri praised the achievement and underscored the importance of maintaining the current pace.

He downplayed the effects of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, arguing the growth indicate that foreign entities take heed of favorable economic factors rather than political reservations.

Last year, the UN Security Council imposed the US-engineered sanctions resolution 1929 against Iran over allegations that Tehran might be developing a military nuclear program.

Following the move, both the US and the EU also imposed unilateral sanctions against the energy and banking sectors of the Islamic Republic.

Iranian officials refute such allegations and stress that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has a legitimate right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology.