Germany wastes no time reviving trade with Iran after nuclear deal

Special to WorldTribune.com

Even before the debates in Iran and the United States could begin over last week’s nuclear agreement, Germany sent its economy minister to Teheran on July 19 to revive a trading relationship in anticipation of the lifting of sanctions.

However, a foreign ministry spokeswoman made short work of German Vice Chancellor  and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel’s stipulation that Iran recognize Israel’s right to exist. Gabriel said upon his arrival that Berlin could not accept that Teheran’s outlook on Israel which could harm business ties

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, shakes hands with Germany’s Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Teheran.  /Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rowhani meets with German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Teheran. /Reuters

“We have totally different views from Germany on certain regional issues in the Middle East and we have explicitly expressed our viewpoints in different negotiations,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said Monday, according to the Fars news agency. She added that “this is not something new.”

Sigmar Gabriel, who met with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani and Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, traveled with a delegation of German industry representatives who are chomping at the bit to move back into the Iranian market, particularly its lucrative energy sector.

Rouhani said Monday that closer ties between Iran and Germany could help bridge the gap between Europe and the Mideast region, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“There is no country in the world where petrochemicals are so easy to access and so inexpensive,” Zangeneh said. “I hope that German and Iranian firms can find each other.”

Before Western sanctions took hold, German exports to Iran hit a whopping 4.4 billion euros in 2005. By 2013, the number had sunk to 1.8 billion. Germany industry experts say that number could rise to 10 billion within a few years of the conclusion of the nuclear deal.

German industries seen poised to cash in on the reopening of the Iranian market include machinery, automobiles, chemicals, healthcare and renewable energy.

Wolfgang Buechele, chief executive of the Linde industrial gases group, said the greatest demand would be in the oil and gas sector. “Especially German plant and mechanical engineers could benefit from it,” he told German magazine Der Spiegel.

Gabriel, the first top level German official to visit Iran in 13 years, said a meeting of the German-Iran economic commission would take place early next year in Teheran.

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