Iran, Poland seek to expand economic ties

Iran, Poland seek to expand economic ties
Tehran Times Economic Desk


TEHRAN – Iranian Industries and Mines Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Polish Minister of Economy Waldemar Pawlak agreed to restart the two countries’ joint commission in order to expand their economic cooperation, in a meeting on Saturday in Warsaw.


Mehrabian is in Poland to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan. The conference will kick off on December 1 and will run until the 12th, IRINN reported.

The Poznan meeting, which is expected to draw around eight thousand participants, will both advance international cooperation on a future climate change regime and ensure progress on key issues.

The two-week meeting is the halfway mark in the negotiations on an ambitious and effective international climate change deal to be clinched in Copenhagen in 2009. It also provides the opportunity to draw together the advances made in 2008 and move from discussion to negotiation mode in 2009.

Last year’s conference, hosted by the government of Indonesia, brought together more than 10,000 participants, including representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and the media.

Turning to the global economic crisis, Mehrabian said, “Iran’s independent economy could maintain its growth and now it is among the safest regional states to develop economic cooperation with European countries.”

“Europe’s new approach toward Iran could help its tense states hit by the U.S. financial crisis,” he stated.

Pawlak, who is also deputy prime minister, noted that Poland is determined to develop relations with independent countries like Iran in the economic and industrial spheres.

He expressed hope that Tehran-Warsaw cooperation would “save Poland’s economy from the global financial crisis.”

The Polish minister also announced that an economic and industrial delegation will visit Iran soon.

The potential for cooperation in the fields of shipbuilding, railway networks, car manufacturing, and tourism were discussed during the meeting