MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korean government will provide comprehensive support to the companies seeking to enter into Iranian market, according to a press-release from the country’s Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE) Friday, reported TPS.
"Government-wide support will be provided so our companies can penetrate into Iranian market," Joo Hyung-hwan, Minister for Trade, Industry & Energy said in a meeting with representatives of 11 companies that are currently operating in Iran.
Joo added that a ministerial-level meeting will be held in Iran on Feb 29 and high-ranking economic delegation will be sent to the country to strengthen business ties between the two countries.
"In order to promote trade and investment opportunities in Iran, the government will maintain the current Korean-won based settlement of accounts system, while adding other forms of exchange using different currencies such as Euro and Yen," Joo said.
"Among many different businesses, we need to strengthen cooperation in areas such as petrochemical and automobile sectors as these are industries where domestic demand will increase in the near future," Joo added.
The lifting of sanctions is widely expected to boost South Korea’s petrochemical exports to Iran, along with other industrial sectors such as automotive, shipping and shipbuilding.
The South Korean government had prohibited exports of these products to Iran since 2011 as part of provisions under the Iran Trade and Investment Guidelines. The guidelines, however, was abolished by the government with effect from Jan 17.
As MRC informed in October 2015, the South Korean government is pushing forward with consolidation of the petrochemical industries, which are mired in a supply glut and the protracted global economic recession. The restructuring on the petrochemical industry is currently led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. Although working-level officials of major petrochemical firms such as LG Chem, Lotte Chemical, and SK Global Chemical held a meeting in September 2015 in order to discuss issues like capacity adjustment, they no longer do it out of concern that it might be construed as an act of collusion by the Fair Trade Commission.
MRC