ICI Takes a Major Step for an Organized Industrial Zone in Iran for Turkish Industrialists

  • 15.06.2016
  • News
iso-iranda-osb-kuruyor-02

Erdal Bahçıvan, Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) Chairman, discussed the plans for establishing an Organized Industrial Zone (OIZ) for Turkish industrialists with Iranian officials during an ICI event held last week (on June 12 - 13).

The idea of setting up an OIZ for Turkish industrialists in Iran was brought forward by ICI Chairman Bahçıvan and high level Iranian officials during ICI Assembly visit to Tehran at the end of April.

With an attempt to take this verbal understanding further, Bahçıvan went to Tehran last week upon Iranian officials' invitation.

In another series of high level visits to Tehran, Bahçıvan’s first attended a meeting also participated by Muhammed Reza Nematzadeh, Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, and Mohsen Jalalpoor, Chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture as well as high level Ministry officials. In the meeting, Istanbul Chamber of Industry representatives were provided with detailed information on seven candidate areas for Organized Industrial Zone. Participants came to a mutual agreement on preparing a roadmap that outlines the steps towards setting up an Organized Industrial Zone, which will later drafted and approved as a goodwill agreement. “We have selected some areas near Tehran, with ready-to-use infrastructure, for the Organized Industrial Zone of ICI. We are ready to engage in collaboration and provide support towards the OIZ to be built by ICI," noted Nematzadeh, Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, during the meeting.

ICI Chairman Erdal Bahçıvan responded by affirming that the seven selected areas would provide a competitive edge and stressing that fast bureaucratic procedures during installation as well as self-generation means of electricity generation were of major importance.

Bahçıvan continued to pay high level visits on the next day, as well. On the second day, a goodwill agreement was signed to establish an OIZ on the area in question. Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, Istanbul Chamber of Industry, and Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture signed the goodwill agreement at a press conference held in Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture headquarters.

Erdal Bahçıvan, ICI Chairman, delivered a speech at the press conference. "We appreciate the rapid progress in this project which we have launched one and a half months ago. We are confident that the collaboration initiated by this goodwill agreement will further boost friendly relations and economic cooperation between Türkiye and Iran."

In the later stage, a working committee of experienced experts will be formed under ICI to direct the efforts towards setting up an OIZ in Iran, in coordination with their Iranian counterparts.

Sharing his estimation that the agreement would pave the way for high quality cooperation between the two countries, the ICI Chairman continued:

“This occasion has been a gathering of goodwill with the aim to implement our joint investment idea of setting up an OIZ, which we had disclosed following the ICI Assembly's latest visit to Iran. Parties have come together to build a roadmap upon those ideas. We have discussed potential concrete steps ahead. As a result, we have drawn up a goodwill agreement, taking a step forward after our Iran trip. Accordingly, in order to establish an OIZ in Iran, we will first gather a working committee of experienced colleagues. We aspire to bolster Turkish-Iranian economic relations and hope to see this project lead to qualified partnerships and deliver benefits in this regard.”