Afghanistan officials in order not give their projects to Iranian companies

Speaking to ILNA, Bahman Salehi Javid said that political pressures are on the rise on Afghan officials for not handing over their projects to Iranian companies.

"The pressure comes both from Islamic Development Bank and also from the governments."

He said they believe that if the resources of the IDB are to be allocated to any project in Afghanistan, Iranians should not be involved. Of course these pressures mostly are from Saudi Arabian government, he added.

On the condition of exports of technical and engineering services, Salehi Javid said that the advisor to minister of roads and urban development has stepped into the issue of export of technical and engineering services in Afghanistan and he is progressing well but regarding Syria, no agreement has been reached by the association, yet.

He said Iranian companies have won big tenders in Afghanistan like the project of Kabul Ring but a series of political pressures has created problem for Afghanistan government on this issue and for this reason the association is pursuing ways to start the project.

He reiterated all political pressures are aimed at throwing Iranian companies out of the projects and IDB sets condition for granting loan for the projects provided that Iran is not involved in the projects.

Referring to Syria’s market, he said that Iranian contractors are present in Syria traditionally but the current condition is not satisfactory for them and today winning a tender and contract in Syria is not easy because there are other companies from China, Russia and UK which are serious rivals for Iranians.

On the presence of Turkey in reconstruction of Karabakh, Salehi Javid said that Turkey in any condition is a very serious rival for Iran and it systematically and very organizedly is taking hold of Iran’s markets especially in the neighboring countries. He said everybody knows that Iran ranks first in the markets of the neighboring states but every country can enter these markets based on their capabilities.

He added that Turkey can have the trans-regional markets due to its political relations and industrial development but the interesting point is that Turkey is seeking to dominate in the markets where Iran is present. He said it seems Turkey does have not enough self-confidence in marketing and finding new markets and it tries to take control of Iran’s traditional markets especially its neighboring countries like Azerbaijan.

Salehi Javid expressed his disappointment over Iran’s weak presence in Karabakh reconstruction projects and said some projects worth of $10b are expected to be carried out in reconstruction of Karabakh but unfortunately so far no project has been given to Iranians.

He expressed hope in the next government Iran can save its traditional markets from being won by other countries and the country once again returns to its golden days of 2011 to 2013 nd increases its export of technical and engineering services to $5b per year.

END