Iran Agriculture Ministry to help maximize investment in
free economic zones 

Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht has said
his ministry will take all the necessary measures for increasing investment in
the country’s free and special economic zones, Freena reported.

Speaking in a meeting with Secretary of the Free Zones High
Council Hojatollah Abdolmaleki on Tuesday, Nikbakht referred to the appropriate
strategy of the Free Zones High Council in internationalization and jump in
investment and export in the country’s free zones, and announced the complete
readiness of his ministry to solve the issues related to the Agriculture
Ministry in such zones, Tehran Times reported.

Abdolmaleki for his part mentioned some of the potentials
and capacities of the free and special economic zones, saying: “These zones
play a key role in the country's economy by accounting for more than 70 percent
of the country's sea transit and more than 30 percent of non-oil exports.”

In late August, Abdolmaleki had announced that 850 packages
for investment in the country’s free zones were ready to be presented to the
investors.

“We have launched a movement to
jumpstart investment in the free zones, with 850 investment packages worth
about 15 billion euros ready to be presented to investors”, Abdolmaleki
reiterated.

“We have already presented these
investment packages in exhibitions in Tehran, Mashhad, Sulaymaniyah of Iraq,
and Armenia, and hundreds of new investors have been identified from different
regions who have expressed interest in this regard”, the official added.

As announced by Abdolmaleki, the growth of investment-making
has doubled in the country’s free trade and special economic zones during the
current government’s incumbency.

The official said that the implementation of development
projects has also doubled.