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The Iran-EU Centre for Economic Co-operation was opened in today in Berlin in a further sign of growing interest among European countries in doing business with the Islamic republic following the end of nuclear-related sanctions in January.
Iran’s Industry, Mine & Trande Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said at the opening ceremony for the centre that the end of sanctions has created the opportunity for a fresh round of co-operation between Iran and western countries, particularly Germany.
“We have had good trade ties with Germany in the past and the volume of our trade transactions stood at 7-8 billion euros before the sanctions,” Mehr News Agency reported Nematzadeh as saying.
“Almost two to three business delegations from around the world visit Iran every week,” Nematzadeh said. “We can expand co-operation with the world in various fields such as car industry, banking relations and other economic areas.”
Iran’s deputy industry minister Mehdi Karbasian said that Germany would become Iran’s first or second major partner within the next three or four years.
Iran-EU Centre is located in the German Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV) building.