Dagmar Von Bohnstein in an interview with Iran Chamber of Commerce’s news website said that the current trade relations between Iran and Germany has declined by 48% in the first quarter of 2019 due to the U.S. sanctions, adding that despite U.S. pressures on European companies, 60 German companies still continue their activities in Iran.

IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

She said that according to the statistics, Iran’s exports to Europe was around 218m euros in the first quarter of the year and the figure shows a sharp fall about 92% comparing to the same period before the reimposition of the U.S. sanctions. At the same time, Iran’s imports from the 28 European countries stood at 1.42b euros which show 56% fall comparing to the same period in 2018. Despite this decline, Germany is still Iran’s first trade partner in Europe.

Von Bohnstein says despite pressures, 60 German companies are still active in Iran and Iran’s market is still attractive for them and they know that if they leave Iran, their returns would be difficult because there are major rivals.

She admitted that Iran and Germany’s trade will expand only when the political condition becomes stable.

She added that before sanctions, some 120 German companies used to cooperate with Iran and currently the number of German companies has fallen to almost 60.

She noted that some German companies are monitoring Iran’s developments and market in order to resume business with Iran when sanctions are lifted.

Von Bohnstein stated that remaining German companies are active in the chemical industry and machineries or renewable energies and there are both medium and big sized enterprises.

She underlined that as long as Iran’s banking system does not work in compliance with international standards, German banks will not be able to work with their Iranian counterparts, adding that observing international standards and transparency is necessary for international trade relations.

On Europe’s financial mechanism INSTEX, she said INSTEX has an important political message which shows Europe’s’ independence from the U.S. policies in the foreign trade.

She added that businessmen of both countries should be patient because INSTEX is in its preliminary stages and currently humanitarian goods are traded and soon other goods would be added to the list.

She also criticized bureaucracy in Iran which makes the trade for foreigners difficult. She added that instability in the laws and regulations and long bureaucratic process are of the major hurdles for attracting foreign investment in Iran. Von Bohnstein reiterated that Iran should improve in the aforementioned areas especially during the sanctions era, adding that business in Iran needs innovation and efforts to ease the process for business.