Iran, India sign deal to promote economic cooperation
Iran and India sealed a deal to promote cooperation on entrepreneurship with a special entrepreneurship center to be opened in Tehran. Director General of the Omid Entrepreneurship Trust of Iran Asghar Nourollahzadeh and Head of Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India Senile Shukla signed the deal $2 million in Hyderabad, India, on Thursday, reported Fars News Agency.
Based on the memorandum, which was signed on the sidelines of the biennial conference on the development of entrepreneurship in India, the special entrepreneurship center for small- and medium-sized enterprises of India-iran will be created in Tehran.
Providing specialized training courses, sharing knowledge to identify entrepreneurship capacities, implementing entrepreneurship development and microfinance programs are the central tasks of this center.
India is one of the most successful countries in the development of micro and small businesses in the world, and implementation of this memorandum can be a base to use its experience in developing entrepreneurship, the financing system for micro and small businesses in rural and outskirt of cities, and poor–developed areas of to Iran.
Early in January, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of his meeting with Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi that his country will not wait for the EU and will expand ties with its other partners.
“The Europeans have made efforts but they could not progress to the extent that we expected. We will cooperate with Europe on the SPV but will not wait for them and will cooperate with our traditional partners, including India, China and Russia, in line with the interests of the Iranian people,” Zarif said.
He underscored cooperation with India in various fields, and said, “India’s UCO bank and Pasargad bank in Iran have begun cooperation in trade.”
Zarif hoped that Iran and India would be able to further boost cooperation irrespective of the US sanctions in line with the interests of the two nations.