London, Sept 30, IRNA - Iran presents UK a very large market opportunity, UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said on Thursday.


'Iran presents us with a very large market opportunity,' Fox said, answering a question on the prospects for trade with the Islamic Republic following its landmark nuclear deal with G5+1 known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action.

'It will be a very large market of consumers,' he said referring to Iran's big market.

Fox said that there were specific problems regarding trade with Iran, mentioning the banking system, but he saw Iran as a 'huge opportunity'.

It is in both Britain's and the European Union's interests for the trading environment between both parties to be at least as free as it is now after Britain exits the bloc, he added.

'Protectionism never actually helps anybody at all and as we move into a post-Brexit arena we want it to be as free and as open as possible,' he told an audience in Manchester, northern England.

Fox said that 'The European Union has a massive surplus in goods with the UK, asking who does it harm more if we end up in a new tariff environment,' local media reported.

'It is in everybody's interests that as we move forward we have at least as free a trading environment as we have today. Anything else may not harm politicians and institutions but it will harm the people of Europe.'

By IRNA