Agreements on preventing double taxation and income tax evasion and on the support and mutual protection of investments was inked by Finance Minister Peter Kažimír and his Iranian counterpart Ali Taiebnia on Tuesday (January 19) in Tehran. "I'm very pleased and hopeful that the signing of two significant international agreements with the Islamic Republic of Iran will translate into cooperation in trade and investments, and contribute to the economic growth of both countries," said the Slovak Finance Minister Kažimír. According to him, Slovakia is interested particularly in the sphere of energy and renewable sources, mechanical engineering and water management, whereas Iran would prefer cooperation in the information and communication technologies sector. The Slovak delegation in Iran featured representatives from 39 companies. They had an opportunity to engage in cooperation with more than 200 local firms at two business forums in the fields of energy, water management, finance, banking or infrastructure.
The EU and the USA are cancelling their sanctions against Iran, as it was confirmed last week in Vienna by the EU High Representativeof the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyFedericaThis came after the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency confirmed in their final report that Teheran fulfilled all its obligations stemming from last year's nuclear agreement with the 6 world powers. The lifting of sanctions against Iran could help boost the Slovak economy, albeit somewhat indirectly, Pravda daily reports. Germany was Iran's biggest trading partner before sanctions were imposed, and Germany is also Slovakia's biggest trading partner at the moment. Volkswagen cars produced in Slovakia could end up in Iran, for example. The German Trade and Industry Chamber expects that "in the next few years exports from Germany to Iran should double to reach a value of €5 billion." Meanwhile, Slovakia's exports to Iran only stood at just over €12.6 million in 2013, growing to just over €14 million last year. Vice-president of the Machinery Industry Association Juraj Borgula notes that it will be difficult to build direct trading links between Slovakia and Iran and that assistance from politicians will be required.
