French companies to visit Iran bidding for better ties

Directors of the largest private- funded union of employers in France will travel to Tehran in February 2014 to explore ways to invest in different fields of economy in Iran, Tehran Times daily reported on Wednesday. The announcement was made by Thierry Courtaigne, the director general and the vice president of the Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF), in a meeting with the director of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) in Tehran on Tuesday. Managers of about 50 French companies are scheduled to meet with Iranian officials in Tehran on Feb. 4-5, 2014, Courtaigne said. "We want to resume relations with Iran," the MEDEF director general said, adding that "We have already met with the French ambassador to Tehran, a number of French investors, as well as the chairman of the Iran-France Joint Chamber of Commerce regarding the French delegation's travel to Iran." For his part, the IMIDRO director Mehdi Karbasian said Iran's mining sector provides unlimited opportunities for foreign investors, "so, French investors should not be lagging behind their rivals." Following a deal signed between Iran and the world powers in Geneva on Nov. 24 to resolve the country's controversial nuclear program, the Islamic republic is seeking foreign investors' presence in its diverse economic projects which have been hit by the international as well as western sanctions. Under the deal, the United States and its allies will lift part of sanctions on Iran in the fields of oil, gold, petrochemicals, auto industries and civil aviation with an estimated value of about 7 billion U.S. dollars. In exchange, Iran agreed to halt enrichment above 5 percent and neutralizing its stockpile of near 20 percent uranium by means of dilution or converting.