Iran opens int'l investment meeting

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated an international investment conference here on Wednesday. The conference, named "Iran Investment Summit", aims to introduce investment opportunities in the country's energy, economic and industrial sectors. Addressing the opening ceremony of the conference, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi outlined Iran's need for investment in its energy sector and said that 21 oil and gas fields in the country are ready for foreign investments. Qasemi said that Iran should invest 50 billion U.S. dollars in oil and gas industry annually to maintain its second rank as an oil exporter in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Iran is planning to reduce the sales of raw materials in energy sector and to invest on the relevant products instead, he added. There are both credit and opportunities for investments in Iran, he said, calling on foreign investors to seize the "unique" investment opportunities in Iran's oil and gas projects. Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini said at the opening ceremony of the conference that the " foreign investors in Iran are (like) our countrymen... and we pave red rugs for them." Political stability and low risk of investments are the advantages in the Islamic Republic that can encourage foreign investors, said Hosseini.