We are witnessing a global fascination with the lucrative environment for economic activity in Iran, he told the opening of an international symposium on industry and trade in Tehran Saturday.
We are ready to host and invite foreign entrepreneurs if they bring investment and technology to Iran where a part of our 80-million market could be placed at their disposal and a joint exports market created for both sides, he added.
The government is pushing to fire economic growth after bringing downinflation from more than 40% at the start of President Rouhani'soffice in 2013 to an annual rate of around 15%.
Rouhani said his administration is targeting a single-digit inflation rate. However, the effort is a delicate balancing act since the governments monetary controls are hampering its other bid to bring the economy out of a nagging stagnation.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)s biannual World Economic Outlook published last week, Iran's economy is seen growing only 0.8% this year before expanding 4.4% in 2016.
Last year, we saweconomic growth and got out of recession but we may slip back to recession, Rouhani said on Saturday.
In a recent letter to President Rouhani, four Iranian government ministers warned that if urgent action is not taken, stagnation could turn into crisis".
The July nuclear accord is expected to open the floodgates to foreign investment and breathe a new lease of life into Irans business environment after sanctions are lifted.
Rouhani said Iran is alsoopen to American investors who are prevented by US law from business in the Islamic Republic.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
President Rouhani and his ministers stand for Iran's national anthem being played at the opening of a symposium in Tehran. IRNA[/caption]One of the renowned American economic executives asked me once to exhort the US government into removing hurdles on the way of our trade, he said without revealing any names.
Iran has never blocked the presence of American investors in the country, Rouhani added.
His statements came amid reports that the Obama administration has warned against a rush by Western companies to invest in Iran's oil industry and other businesses.
According to Reuters, the US State Department recently cabled a demarche to embassies around the world to reiterate that sanctions on Iran are still in place.
"The United States wants to tell governments not to get ahead of themselves when dealing with Iran," the news agency cited an unnamed London-based diplomatic source as saying.
Over the past few months, government ministers from Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Japan and India have taken business delegations to Iran to explore grounds for new trade.
Japan is the latest major US ally aiming to resurrect trade relations with Iran,sendingForeign Minister Fumio Kishida to Tehran on Monday.
By Press TV
