by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
France's main business lobby group, MEDEF, sends delegation of more than 100 firms to Iran • French agriculture and trade ministers to open new trade office in Tehran on Sept. 22 • Official says visit could lead to agreements by November.
French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
A senior French economic and political
delegation headed to Tehran on Sunday to lay the groundwork for the
first business contracts between France and Iran since the nuclear deal
was signed in July.
France's main business lobby group, MEDEF, is
sending a delegation comprising more than 100 firms to Iran, including
companies such as oil major Total, plane-maker Airbus and car
manufacturer Peugeot.
"We're trying to identify areas where we can move forward, but we're not going to do business at any cost."
The delegation includes most of France's CAC
40 companies, but also small and medium enterprises with sectors as
wide-ranging as agriculture, finance, luxury goods, pharmaceuticals,
construction and transport represented.
Heading it up are Agriculture Minister
Stephane Le Foll and Trade Minister Matthias Fekl, who will open a new
trade office in the Iranian capital on Sept. 22.
France took one of the hardest lines of the six powers negotiating the nuclear agreement with Iran.
But Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who
travelled in the summer to Tehran to smooth over ties, has said he does
not believe that will hurt its companies once international sanctions
against the Islamic Republic are lifted. Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani is due to visit Paris in November.
Officials say Paris may initially secure deals
in areas that were not specifically hit by European Union and U.S.
sanctions, most notably in the agriculture and livestock sectors, in
which France has relatively little activity in Iran.
"We're going to work on subjects in particular in agriculture and agribusiness," Le Foll told Reuters.
"We’ll see the potential and the possibilities
for trade with Iran and that also means in the agriculture sector, most
notably in meat and chicken."
One official said the visit could lead to
expressions of interest that could become agreements by November,
although big contracts are impossible until the lifting of sanctions.
Sanctions lifting would begin in the first
quarter of 2016 if Iran meets its obligations under the deal, designed
to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
In the aftermath of the nuclear deal, some
French executives have said that their firms have fallen behind their
main European, American and Asian rivals.
French imports from Iran fell to just 62
million euros in 2013 from 1.77 billion in 2011. Exports fell to 494
million euros in 2013 from 1.66 billion in 2011, according to French
foreign ministry estimates.
French companies were once heavily involved in
the Iranian market, but European Union and in particular U.S. sanctions
adopted in 2011 scared them away.
BNP Paribas was fined almost $9 billion in
2014 for transactions violating U.S. embargoes. Diplomats and executives
say that until there are iron-clad guarantees from the United States
that companies will not be penalized should sanctions be reimposed on
Iran, they are likely to remain prudent before committing themselves.
"The objective is to discover, learn and
understand so that afterward we can put projects together in the short
to medium term," French agricultural cooperative Axerea's Secretary
General Stephane Michel said.
"There are still constraints, especially currency
problems. The country is not linked to the global financial system, and
American sanctions have not been lifted."
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=28387
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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