Official announces growth in foreign investment in Iran

Western sanctions against Iran's economy are ineffective as the volume of foreign investment in the country has witnessed remarkable growth, a senior Iranian economic official announced. Iran's foreign investment attraction reached $4.85 billion ceiling in last Iranian year (ended on March 20, 2013), Iran's Deputy Economy Minister Behrouz Alishiri announced on Friday. He announced that the figure hit $2.60 billion and $4.60 billion in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Iran enjoys high capacity for attracting foreign investment in its oil and gas industries. In April 2012, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi invited domestic and foreign capital holders to make investment in the country's oil and gas industries, and said Iran is among the most secure countries for investment in the energy sector. Iran, which sits on the world's second largest reserves of both oil and gas, is facing western sanctions over its civilian nuclear program. Iranian officials have dismissed US sanctions as inefficient, saying that they are finding Asian partners instead. A large number of Chinese, Indian and other Asian firms have negotiated or signed up to oil and gas deals with Iran.