TEHRAN (Iran News) The meeting, attended by Iran’s Consul General in Dubai and several engineering and construction industry representatives, focused on enhancing Iran’s organized presence at BIG5—one of the world’s largest construction and engineering trade events.

Erfan Shakeri, head of the Iran-UAE Joint Chamber of Commerce, noted that while entering the UAE market is relatively easy, maintaining a lasting presence there is far more challenging.

“To align with international standards, we must continuously update our technical capabilities,” he said.

Shakeri proposed forming a consortium of interested engineering and technical service providers to coordinate participation and expand exports to the UAE. He also highlighted that by 2030, over 70% of UAE buildings are expected to transition to green energy through smart and advanced technologies, urging Iranian firms to adapt to these trends.

Ali Naqavi, head of the Chamber’s Commission on Engineering and Construction Services, pointed out that although Iranian engineering firms operate in high-risk but potentially lucrative markets, UAE’s housing market offers both strong demand and profitability.

“However, sanctions and banking restrictions threaten investments,” he warned, adding that the Chamber can play a key role in supporting Iranian participants and preventing “damaging competition” among them.

Naqavi further mentioned that participants from more than 160 countries will attend BIG5, stressing the importance of joint planning between the Iran Chamber and the Iran-UAE Joint Chamber to ensure tangible outcomes. He also urged Iranian diplomatic efforts to ease work visa restrictions currently faced by Iranian professionals in the UAE.

Shahram Khasipour, Director of the Arab-African Department at the Iran Chamber of Commerce, said that the UAE remains one of Iran’s top three trade partners in both imports and exports. He highlighted potential areas of cooperation in transit, high-tech industries, renewable energy, oil and petrochemicals, and construction services.

“Combining Iranian engineering expertise with Emirati capital and technology can open new avenues for collaboration, even in third countries,” he said.

Amin Maghomi, head of the Iranian Construction Engineering Organization, emphasized the need for pre-event coordination among Iranian participants to maximize efficiency at BIG5.

“The UAE market is extremely competitive, and we must plan to overcome our limitations,” he said, noting that Iran’s domestic construction market is nearing saturation, making export of technical and engineering services a necessity.

Ghazal Raheb, head of the Research Center at Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, announced the center’s readiness to issue and translate international quality assurance certificates for Iranian construction companies.

“We are prepared to provide official translations of these certifications for use at BIG5,” she said, adding that companies seeking to import technology could also receive necessary technical approvals through the center.

Alireza Mahmoudi, Iran’s Consul General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, pointed out the enormous scale of UAE’s real estate market, where 12 billion dirhams worth of properties are traded weekly.

“Iran currently exports between $500 million and $1 billion worth of construction materials to the UAE annually, but this figure could potentially increase fifteenfold,” he noted.

The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to forming a unified consortium for the export of Iranian engineering and technical services to the UAE, leveraging the BIG5 exhibition as a key platform to strengthen Iran’s presence in the regional construction and infrastructure market.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) In a press briefing on Saturday, Iraj Golabtoonchi stated that this achievement spans over 1,000 projects implemented abroad by capable Iranian companies from 1995 to 2023.

Golabtoonchi noted that exports faced a decline after 2011 but experienced a boost in 2016 when Iranian companies re-entered the Iraqi market, securing $2 billion in projects that year. However, the sector’s growth has been hindered since 2022 due to ongoing sanctions, difficulties obtaining bid guarantees, and other obstacles.

He emphasized the need for Iranian firms to elevate their quality standards to international levels and strengthen their engineering capabilities by hiring skilled professionals.

Highlighting opportunities in neighboring regions, including Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries, Iraq, CIS nations, and even Gulf states, Golabtoonchi called for leveraging Iran’s experience to expand its market share. However, he lamented the lack of global recognition, noting that no Iranian company ranks among the world’s top 250 engineering firms as per ENR rankings, whereas China has 70 representatives, and Turkey has 45.

He pointed out that while Iran’s market presence shrank, Turkish firms filled the gap. For example, while Iran managed $2 billion in projects in Iraq, Turkish companies executed $24 billion worth of projects simultaneously.

Of Iran’s $2 billion in projects, $700 million were located in Iraqi Kurdistan, particularly in Sulaymaniyah and Erbil, involving 37 companies managing 57 projects. However, political disputes between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over budget allocations have delayed payments, leaving $500 million of these projects unpaid.

In Syria, six to seven Iranian firms had been active in providing engineering services, but due to ongoing challenges, they have withdrawn their personnel, although some equipment and unpaid claims remain.

Sanctions have further complicated Iranian companies’ operations, as securing bid guarantees for projects in Iraq, CIS countries, and elsewhere has proven difficult.

According to Golabtoonchi, the national budget for this year includes provisions for resolving guarantee issues through the Ministry of Economy if companies win new projects. However, no company has successfully utilized this mechanism so far. He suggested that using local currencies or Iran’s foreign-held reserves could serve as guarantees, a topic discussed during the recent visit of the President and Minister of Economic Affairs to Iraq.

Golabtoonchi also announced the upcoming 27th Annual National Conference of the International Concrete Association (Iran branch) and the National Conference on Concrete and Earthquakes. This year’s event will focus on strengthening industry-university collaboration to address workforce shortages, operational reductions in the construction sector, and declining interest among students in engineering disciplines.

The conference will dedicate a day to showcasing student projects to highlight academic contributions to the industry. Golabtoonchi stressed the need for more practical training in universities to bridge the gap between education and industry requirements.

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Addressing the meeting, Karbasi said that Iran and Sweden can have high-level cooperation with each other in the field of engineering and technical services, adding that Sweden is a country that is in a high position in the world in terms of progress in types of services and equipment, and by the way, Iran has good experience and considerable capability in the field of technical and engineering services.

He went on to say that Sweden is one of the most developed countries in the world and it has always had sensitive and close economic relation with Iran, adding that in the past years, Swedish companies have opened offices in Iran although in the past two years and after the reimposition of sanctions, those companies decided to leave Iran market but some of them have remained committed and continued their cooperation with fits and starts.

Karbasi added that the foreign trade volume of Sweden was over $320b in 2019 while Sweden’s trade volume with Iran has declined from $500m in 2019 to $70m in 2019. He expressed hope that the country would see an increase in economic cooperation with Sweden with the increase in economic cooperation and existing capacity, and with the efforts of the joint chamber of commerce as well as a change in Sweden’s approach regarding cooperation.

He hailed the efforts of the Iran Sweden Chamber of Commerce for its efforts which topped it among the joint chambers in the country.

Then Rezaei briefed the participants on the economic properties of Sweden and the country’s mentality regarding the economic activities. He said that despite having huge natural resources, Sweden has never resorted to selling raw material and avoided it, adding that the production of goods is several times more than its imports and people try to use home-made products especially in the field of agro products.

He also said trade with the EU accounts for 70 percent of Sweden’s total foreign trade, and Norway, Germany, the U.S., and Finland are the major trade partners of Sweden, and the Netherlands, France, and the UK are also among the other trade partners of this country, noting that among the Asian countries, China tops the list of Sweden’s trade partners.

Rezaie went on to say that most of Iran’s exports to Sweden are types of raw materials of course dried-fruits and foodstuff are also among Iran’s exports. He noted that some Iranian goods are exported to Sweden via London and Iranian pistachio and carpet are provided via the Hamburg market. He reiterated that Iran’s imports from Sweden are capital commodities like packing, telecommunications, mining equipment as well as technical know-how.

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