Osborne mulls biggest UK trade visit to Iran
Britain’s second most powerful man, George Osborne, says he wants to take the country’s biggest-ever trade delegation to Iran which has become one of Europe’s well-trodden destinations where new business opportunities beckon.
“We can either sit on the sidelines, watch the world move ahead and gradually decline — plenty of other countries are taking that path — or we can get out there and plant our flag in the ground,” the finance minister told the Financial Times.
“Next year I would love to lead a proper, big economic and trade delegation to Iran,” Osborne said as he ended a five-day visit to China.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond visited Iran last month on a fence-mending mission during which he also reopened the British embassy in Tehran.
For now, the embassies in Tehran and London are headed by charge d’affaires, pending an agreement in the coming months to upgrade to full ambassador status.
The UK closed the embassy in 2011 after Iranian protests against intensified sanctions degenerated into public outpouring of anger and subsequent storming of the mission by a group of people.
There is a deep-seated suspicion toward Britain among the Iranians and the country is generally used in unflattering terms as the “old fox” because of its colonial past.
Britain has always coveted Iran’s hydrocarbon reserves, the world’s fourth largest in oil and the first biggest in gas, with enormous interest.
The British multinational company BP has its origins in Iran. It was established as Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908 as the Middle East’s first oil was struck in Masjed Soleyman.
The conclusion of nuclear talks in July has paved the way for the removal of the sanctions, which would let international companies return to Iran.
Osborne said, “Assuming that Iran honors the nuclear deal, and it’s properly verified, I think there will be growing potential to do business with Iran.”
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