Europeans investing in Iranian rights violations

Iran is attracting a good deal of European investment, despite its flouting of UN resolutions and its abysmal human rights record.

 

Students claim that another dissident died of beatings in an Iranian jail. Presumably, that will double the French, German and Italian investment in Iran, while China wand the others will quadruple their investments.

 

Best beatings money can buy.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Iran Attracts USD 11 b in Foreign Investment in 10 Months - Official

Over the past 10 months, foreign companies have expressed interest in investing in the construction of two refineries and a steel company.
Foreign investment is on the rise in Iran as a result of incentives and new laws for the protection of investments, the director of the Foreign Investment Department of the Ministry of Finance and Financial Affairs said on Monday.

 

Since March 2007, $11 billion has been invested in telecommunications, steel, petrochemicals, agriculture, and small-scale industries by foreign financiers, mostly from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, Germany, France, and Italy, Ahmad Jamali told ISNA.

 

Over the past 10 months, foreign companies have expressed interest in investing in the construction of two refineries and a steel company, the official said.

 

The Iranian government liberalized investment regulations in the early part of the decade, but since then foreign investors have only focused on a few sectors of the economy, namely the oil and gas sectors, the vehicle manufacturing industry, copper mining, petrochemicals, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals.

 

Iran attracted $24.3 billion of foreign investment from March 1993 to March 2007 and foreign transactions with Iran amounted to $150 billion between 2000 and 2007.

 

Jan 21 , 2008

Source

 

Cross posted: Israel News  Middle East Analysis