Iran Focus
The agreements were signed on Saturday in front of He Guoqiang, a senior official of the Communist Party of China who is on a three-day official visit to Iran, and Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh.
The state-run news agency Fars reported that part of the deal was that China would invest heavily in some of Iran’s major infrastructure projects including a water diversion project and a dam. Chinese companies would also import large amounts of chrome Ore and Celestine from Iran.
Earlier in the week, China’s Ambassador to Tehran stated that the total value of trade exchanges between Iran and China was predicted to reach $40 billion this year.
Addressing an Iran-China trade conference in Tehran on Monday, Ambassador Yu Hung Yang said that the value of the two countries’ trade exchanges had witnessed a 55% growth during the first four months of 2011 and amounted to $13.28bln.
He said trade exchanges between Iran and China amounted to $30bln in 2010, adding that “China exported $11.1bln worth of goods to Iran, while its imports totalled $18.3bln last year”.
The Chinese envoy added that his country’s direct investment in Iran had increased by 48.3% during the first four months of 2011 amounting to $178mln.
Iran and China are actively seeking to increase trade and cooperation in all areas. Iran’s main export to China has consistently been crude oil.
Iran is currently China’s third largest supplier of crude, consisting of approximately 12% of China’s total annual oil consumption. This amounts to nearly one million barrels per day.
