The report put the Islamic Republic’s FDI inflow at $1.5 billion in 2022, while the figure stood at $1.425 billion in 2021, IRNA reported.

According to the report, Iran was ranked fourth in West Asia in terms of the amount of FDI inflow to the country in the mentioned year.

Based on UNCTAD data, Iran also had $100 million in foreign direct investment in other countries in 2022, up from $82 million from the previous year.

UNCTAD has also put the global foreign direct investment in 2022 at $1.294 trillion, indicating a decline of 13 percent compared to the previous year.

Iran has been ranked 79th among the countries of the world in terms of attracting foreign investment in 2022. The U.S. was in first place with $285 billion of FDI, followed by China with $189 billion, and Singapore with $141 billion.

As for West Asia, Saudi Arabia ranked first in the region with $7.886 billion of investment, followed by Oman with $3.716 billion, and Bahrain with $1.951 billion.

Foreign direct investment inflow to Iran also increased by 6.4 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year.

According to UNCTAD, the Islamic Republic’s FDI inflow stood at $1.429 billion in 2021, while the figure was $1.342 billion in 2020.

Iran also had $82 million in foreign direct investment in other countries in 2021, up from $78 million in the previous year.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964 as an intergovernmental organization intended to promote the interests of developing states in world trade.

Meanwhile the value of foreign investment in Iran from August 2021, when the current administration took office, until the first month of the current Persian calendar year (March-April 2023) hit $6.51 was billion.

The issue of foreign investment within the framework of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was put at the focal attention of the economic and diplomacy apparatuses in the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi and it has led to considerable growth of investment in the country.

The value of foreign investment in Iran from August 2021, when the current administration took office, until the first month of the current Persian calendar year hit $6.51 billion, showing an 84.3 percent growth compared to the same period during the previous administration.

When the administration took office in August 2021, giant steps were taken in line with strengthening ties with neighboring and regional countries in all fields, especially in the economic field, according to FARS news agency.

According to the statistics of the Foreign Investment Organization, 401 foreign investment projects, valued at $10.765 billion, were approved by this administration.

In general, the total number of foreign investment projects approved since August 2021 up to the first month of the current year hit 356, valued at $6.50 billion.

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The report, published on June 9, put the Islamic Republic’s FDI inflow at $1.429 billion in 2021, while the figure stood at $1.342 billion in 2020.

According to the report, Iran also had $82 million in foreign direct investment in other countries in 2021, up from $78 million the previous year.

UNCTAD has also put the global foreign direct investment in 2021 at $1.582 trillion, indicating a growth of 64 percent compared to the previous year. The figure stood at $962 billion in 2020.

“Global flows of foreign direct investment recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year, reaching $1.6 trillion. Cross-border deals and international project finance were particularly strong, encouraged by loose financing conditions and infrastructure stimulus. However, the recovery of greenfield investment in the industry remains fragile, especially in developing countries,” the report said.

This fragile growth of real productive investment is likely to persist in 2022. The fallout of the war in Ukraine with the triple food, fuel, and financial crises, along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and climate disruption, is adding stress, particularly in developing countries, UNCTAD said in its report.

Global growth estimates for the year are already down by a full percentage point. There is a significant risk that the momentum for recovery in international investment will stall prematurely, hampering efforts to boost finance for sustainable development, it added.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964 as an intergovernmental organization intended to promote the interests of developing states in world trade.

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The index yielded results for 158 countries with the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom receiving the highest scores on a scale of 0 to 1. Based on their rankings, countries are placed within one of four 25-percentile score groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high values of the index.

The report has put Iran in the 71st position with a total score of 0.46, higher than Qatar, Oman, and Morocco.

Iran was also placed 82 in ICT, 74 in skills, 37 in R&D, 130 in industry, and 53 in finance sectors, according to Iran National Inventions Team.

Only a few countries currently create frontier technologies, but all countries need to prepare for them. To assess national capabilities to equitably use, adopt and adapt these technologies this report has developed a ‘readiness index’. The index comprises five building blocks: ICT deployment, skills, R&D activity, industry activity, and access to finance, according to the report.

Human development over the past two decades has been accompanied by rapid changes in technology and the increasing proliferation of digitized devices and services. In many respects, these have been beneficial.

Innovation has driven economic development – and the pace of change seems likely to accelerate as a result of digitalization and advances in “frontier technologies” such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, all of which could help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

New technologies have also proved critical in combating COVID-19. Biotechnology, for example, has been used to identify the virus and test for infection. And through broadband technologies and social media people have been able to connect while in physical isolation – facilitating business continuity, children’s education, and good mental health.

Technology development in Iran

Despite sanctions putting pressure on the country, a unique opportunity was provided for business development and the activity of knowledge-based companies in the country.

Currently, some 5,000 knowledge-based companies are active in the country, manufacturing diverse products to meet the needs of the domestic market while saving large amounts of foreign currency.

The fields of aircraft maintenance, steel, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment, oil, and gas are among the sectors that researchers in technology companies have engaged in, leading to import reduction.

In recent years, the vice presidency for science and technology has been supporting knowledge-based companies active in the production of sanctioned items.

Vice President for Science and Technology Sourena Sattari told the Tehran Times in October 2020 that “U.S. sanctions caused exports of knowledge-based companies to decline three years ago, however, it has returned to growth and is projected to reach the pre-sanctions level of more than $1 billion by the end of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 20, 2021).

Fortunately, last year, companies achieved a record sale of 1.2 quadrillion rials (nearly $28.5 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials), which is expected to increase by 40 percent this year.”

To date, 42 knowledge-based companies with a total value of 2.8 quadrillion rials (nearly $66.6 billion) have been listed on the stock exchange and they will soon turn into the biggest businesses in the county, Sattari said.

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