"Silk Road Talk" initiated a new era after 2000 years

Mr.Ali Dehghani, Commercial Counsellor of Consulate General I.R.IRAN-Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"It is a wonderful thing that 'The Belt and Road' connected more than 60 countries together. Two heads of states signed a MOU regarding 'The Belt and Road' construction and discussed to increase bilateral trade in the next ten years to $600 billion. This is a very good opportunity for Iran. During the sanctions period many Chinese enterprises still actively participated in Iran energy and automotive market cooperation, so the two countries have a good foundation for long-term trust. After the lifting of sanctions against Iran, we received a lot of international investment delegations, but we look forward to have more from China to Iran," Islamic Republic of Iran Consulate General Commercial Counsellor Mr. Ali Dehghani said during the interview.

It is reported that Iran has the world's largest natural gas and oil total storage capacity, the world's fourth largest crude oil reserves, and is the fifth largest oil producer in OPEC. After the cancellation of economic sanctions, many countries have set their sights on the huge market potential in Iran. The German Chamber of Commerce and industry estimates in the next four years, Germany's exports to Iran trade volume will grow four times to reach 10 billion euros. South Korea's major trading companies are ready to seize the Iran market with an intense publicity campaign in preparation to it. In addition to the oil industry, the Iran automotive industry accounted for about 10% of Iran's economic scale, creating 840 thousand jobs.

After the lifting of sanctions, the European car manufacturers such as Peugeot and Renault were trying to back the Iranian car market by the way of business cooperation or joint ventures. In the field of oil exploration, the infrastructure in Iran is old and it is expected to release a huge demand. It is reported that Iran plans to invest $130 to $145 billion for replacement oil equipment with this demand.

At the same time, the population of Iran is mostly young people, 70% of the population is under the age of 35 so the demand for consumer electronics is huge. In the year 2014, Iran consumer electronics sales totaled $9.43 billion, among which computer peripheral products accounted for $5.7 billion and TV, digital camera, video electronic products accounted for $2.35 billion, mobile phone products accounted for $2 billion, it is no doubt that Iran contains a huge market potential.

However, in the face of the Iran market China enterprises reactions are quite different from one another. "Before, the company's business in Iran was export container and port handling equipment. Currently, the company is considering restructuring with funds and technology to go to Iran, or cooperate with local companies to do some trial in the aspects of production capacity transfer ." Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (ZPMC) Port Machinery Management Department Deputy General Manager Chen Kai stated in the seminar, who is enthusiastic about the Iranian market.