Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Newly released from international sanctions, Iran now targets to attract partners from around the world and looks at practical steps needed to exploit the opportunities to cooperate in different spheres.

Being the country with the largest natural gas reserves in the world, Iran intends to expand its cooperation with other countries primarily in the field of energy.

Iran’s energy minister has called for the further partnership of Czech Republic in Iran’s power projects, particularly in the construction of incineration plants.

Speaking at a meeting with First Vice President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Premysl Sobotka in Tehran, Iran’s Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian pointed to Iran’s power production capacity saying “gas remains as the main source of electricity production in Iran while the share of nuclear energy is negligible amounting to only 1,000 megawatts,” Mehr Agency reported on October 18.

“Iran and Czechia hold a long history of cooperation and currently Khoda Afarin hydroelectric power stations is being constructed in partnership with the European state,” noted the official underscoring that Iran intended to mainly focus on renewable energies in coming years.

In addition, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian called Sobotka for cooperation in the field of renewable energy, as well as wastewater treatment.

The Ministry has allocated 19 places in Iran, close to the big cities, the construction of power plants of this type, he added.

In turn, the official recalled that Iran, at Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, agreed to produce 7,500 megawatts of renewable energies by 2030 and will invite tenders for capacities over 100 megawatts.

He outlined construction of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in major cities as yet another priority pursued in Iran’s power industry. “So far, a total of 19 large sites have been allocated to this end.”

Chitchian went on to note that Iran welcomes prominent Czech companies who are eager to provide finance to incineration projects maintaining “these firms can also launch cooperation in water and wastewater treatment or manufacturing of water transfer equipment.”

Also at the meeting, First Vice President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Premysl Sobotka touched upon Iran’s capacities noting “energy remains as a vital and significant aspect of economic development in all countries and Iran enjoys precious energy resources.”

Previously, Sobotka stressed several times that a great potential for Czech-Iranian cooperation also lies in the energy industry, water management, transport infrastructure and supplies of mass transport means.

He expressed hope that old ties between Iran and Czech Republic will become strengthened following the removal of international sanctions.

Sobotka emphasized that both sides could cooperate on nuclear energy and incineration plant projects given that Czechia hold invaluable experiences in these areas.

At the end of his remarks, he deemed power grids and water treatment stations as possible venues for cooperation between Iran and Czech Republic.

The Czech–Iranian relations were established on April 30, 1929.

As of 2015, Czech firms mainly exported machinery products, electrical goods, and other products to Iran while the bulk of imports from Iran consisted of fruit and vegetables.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $24 million last year.

The two countries’ mutual trade traditionally focused on industry, infrastructure, oil, energy, crystal products, and textile.

In May of 2015 Iran and the Czech Republic signed an agreement to avoid double taxation in a bid to give a boost to the bilateral trade.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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