Japan, Iran to review bilateral trade, investment during June 6-7 talks.

Japan and Iran will review the current state of bilateral trade and investment, among other topics to be discussed, during talks in Tehran over Monday-Tuesday, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Monday. The talks are part of working group sessions under the Steering Committee of the 1st Japan-Iran Cooperation Council. The council was agreed to be launched in October last year.

The talks will be attended by Tsukasa Uemura, Director-General, Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mahmoud Farahzandeh, Director General, Department of East Asia & Oceania at Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The latest talks come after Japan and Iran signed a bilateral investment treaty, which is designed to protect investments by Japanese companies across various sectors of the Iranian economy, in February, when the two countries also signed Tehran's debt guarantee of up to $10 billion of investments by Japanese companies.

These formal agreements inked in February are seen as a tailwind for companies considering investments -- including midstream petroleum businesses -- in the Islamic Republic, a source at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said earlier. The investment treaty was signed following Japan and Iran's "substantial agreement" of the treaty in October last year, and Japan's lifting of key sanctions against Iran, including bans on making new investments in the oil and gas sector using export credits, following the US and EU's lifting of nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran in January.

Possible Japanese investment in Iran could include petroleum, natural gas resource developments, refinery upgrades, petrochemical plants and distribution systems, according to industry sources.
 

Source: Platt.com, date: 06.June.2016