Legal Barriers to FDI Highlighted

EghtesadOnline: A comparative study conducted by Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture on Iran’s foreign direct investment situation and that of 20 countries indicates the Islamic Republic’s clear need for a fundamental change.

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21 June 2017

The current laws pertaining to FDI suffer from a number of serious deficiencies with regard to general conditions for attracting foreign investment, transfer of foreign capital, ownership structure and dispute settlement mechanism, which need to be addressed immediately, TCCIM member, Behrouz Alishiri, told Mehr News Agency.

TCCIM, a subsidiary of Iran Chamber of Commerce Industries, Mines and Agriculture, is home to representatives of Iran’s private sector.

Alishiri noted that Iranian laws pose a serious barrier to attracting foreign capital. “Some countries, including Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Brazil and China, have introduced changes to their foreign investment legal system in recent years, moving toward simplified laws whereas no change has taken place in Iran’s foreign investment rules and regulations for the past 16 years,” Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.

Iran’s sixth five-year development plan (2017-22) is targeting an 8% annual growth.  According to President Hassan Rouhani, foreign investment is vital to meet the ambitious target.

“Iran needs $30-50 billion in foreign investments to achieve the 8% growth,” he said upon submitting the plan’s draft to the parliament in mid-January.