Opportunists take advantage of Swift's absence
Chairman of the Iran-Italy Chamber of Commerce: Our policymakers and elites know that even if the sanctions are lifted but we can not communicate with Swift and not join the FATF, it will not be of any use. Because if we can't move the money, what good will it do to lift the sanctions?
According to the International Iranian Stone Exhibition, Ahmadpour Fallah said about Iran's trade situation with Italy: "For many years, especially in the decades after the revolution, Italy was Iran's first trading partner, until ten years ago a record of 1.7 billion." - We experienced 800 million Euros in our dealings with Italy, Italy supplied almost all of its refinery needs from Iran.
He added: The night that Mr. Zarif was traveling to Geneva to finalize Burjam; I went there with a delegation of Iranian businessmen. "We are not rich enough to buy oil from any country other than Iran," said Italy's deputy energy minister. I asked, "Are we selling oil cheaply?" He said that this is not the case, but we have adjusted all our refineries in terms of formulation to consume Iranian oil, and changing it requires a lot of investment. But today Italy does not buy a barrel of oil from us, it had to invest a lot to replace Iran with another oil. Of course, it is difficult to return to this situation, these are the golden opportunities that we missed.
The head of the Iran-Italy Chamber of Commerce stated: The latest statistics we had before Corona showed that Iran-Italy transactions reached about 600-700 million dollars, which is very small, but compared to other countries, our relationship with Italy is still cut off. It is not capillary and is still going on, especially small and medium-sized companies do not have a problem with this because they have no connection with the United States.
He added: "These small companies make up a small volume. We must be able to have relationships with companies around the world on a larger scale." The size of our economy in the world is eighteenth or nineteenth, and we must have a greater share. Sanctions and our non-accession to the FATF have had a huge impact on this. Swift's lack of communication with other countries has made it very difficult, and many opportunists are taking advantage of this situation, and the national interests of Iranians are being jeopardized. I hope that with the opening that is taking place at the international level, the sanctions will gradually ease.
"Our policymakers and elites should know that even if the sanctions are lifted, but we can not communicate with Swift and not join the FATF, it will be of no use," Purfallah said. Because if we can't move the money, what good will it do to lift the sanctions?
A member of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce stated: Italy is still on the job and has not been affected by any special emotions and we have maintained our capillary relations with Italy. There is regular contact with the Italian embassy, consulate and business department in Tehran.
He added: "Economic relations can even affect political activities, and its impact can be seen." We tried to keep in touch so that the roots would not dry up, hoping that one day something would happen so that Italy would be our first trading partner again.
The head of the Iran-Italy Chamber of Commerce stated about Iran's blocked money in Italy: "Iran's blocked money in Italy is not as big as countries like China, India and Iraq, but it was not possible to transfer some of the last oil shipments we sold to Italy." Not too high and I think it is a maximum of $ 4 billion to $ 5 billion.
"Some of our policymakers have said that it does not matter to us which president comes to office with what mindset," he said of the impact of Joe Biden. But I, as a private sector activist, say it is certainly not ineffective. The views of someone who insisted that our incomes be zero would be different from those of someone who thinks otherwise. It was the Democrats who formed Burjam under Mr. Obama.
"We have to negotiate in the national interest," he said. As a private sector activist, I believe that coercion and distance will never solve our problems, so we have to negotiate with 50-50 interests. Of course, today we can look at the future more optimistically than a year ago, but we should not be so optimistic that we think, for example, something special will happen in another month.
Pourfallah pointed out: "Now this inflammation that exists in the market is more emotional than emotional. Certainly, this situation will reach 3-4 days ago, but in the medium term, our situation in dealing with countries around the world will definitely improve." Of course, this situation has a lot to do with the views of our domestic policymakers.
* ILNA
