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◢ New deal between Azimut Group and Mofid Securities represents a landmark deal for Iran's financial services sector. Azimut Group is taking a 20% stake in Mofid Entekhab.
◢ The two companies will launch new investment offerings, largely targeting foreign investors. A capital raise will support the expansion of the local sales and advisory teams.
New survey conducted by IranPoll in partnership with Bourse & Bazaar looks at Iranian attitudes towards economic reform and foreign investment with new detail. Iranians demonstrate high degree of openness to foreign investment and the economic reforms necessary to facilitate that investment. But they want multinational companies to do more to localize their offerings effectively.
◢ MTN Group presented its interim results on August 3rd, which included an extensive look at the operational and financial progress in their Iran joint-venture, MTN Irancell.
◢ The transparent look at Iran for investors, analysts, and media is somewhat unprecedented and shows a future where major multinationals will report on Iran in the same way as any other market.
◢ European business leaders and policymakers will convene with their Iranian counterparts at a critical time during the 4th Europe-Iran Forum in Zurich on October 3-4, 2017.
◢ The business community will be meeting to set an agenda for trade and investment as the Trump administration signals its skepticism regarding the Iran nuclear deal.
◢ Japan is one of Iran's major historical trading partners. But Japanese companies have fallen behind European, Chinese, and Korean firms in post-sanctions investment.
◢ Japanese companies are now looking to European firms as they seek to balance political and reputational risks, especially in the absence of a high-level delegation to Iran.
◢ With new U.S. sanctions on Russia and Iran set to come into force, the French Foreign Ministry issued a firm statement suggesting new U.S. sanctions could contravene international law.
◢ While Germany is likely to lead on the push back against additional Russia sanctions, the importance of the Iranian market to French enterprise may mean that Macron is best positioned to intervene with Trump to help preserve the JCPOA.
◢ The JCPOA has now persisted for two years, and Iran is beginning to see post-sanctions benefits. But American support for the deal is wavering, and deal supporters in Washington have upped their advocacy.
◢ But deal supporters often describe the JCPOA as an unusual concession from an otherwise threatening Iran, a characterization that undermines much of what the Iran Deal has achieved so far.
◢ Behind every successful multinational deal in Iran is a country manager. These executives seek to balance the commercial goals of their companies with the needs of Iran's post-sanctions economy.
◢ Country managers are a critical link in what is essentially a bureaucratic system. Policymakers need to help make this bureaucracy work better with better rules and systems so that country managers can succeed.
◢ The arrival of Telepizza, a global fast-food brand, is a significant development for Iran's food service sector.
◢ The terms of the master franchise keep economic dividends in Iranian hands, and the new entrant will likely spur new investment and improvements in offerings across the sector.
◢ On Monday, Total will sign a long-awaited USD 5 billion deal to develop Iran's South Pars gas field, becoming the first international oil company to commit to a post-sanctions investment.
◢ The Total deal indicates rising confidence that political and banking challenges can be addressed, and the contract signing will likely buoy investor confidence across sectors.
◢ To win foreign investment, Iran's needs to boost development expenditures. But expansionary fiscal policy will require a new source of revenue, as oil sales remain stagnant and tax rises remain politically risky.
◢ A sovereign debt sale, long discussed by Iranian officials, is the fundamental way Iran can find the revenues to self-fund growth. The Rouhani administration must focus on making its bond offering a reality.
◢ A resounding election victory has renewed Rouhani's popular mandate, but following President Trump's speech in Riyadh, the prospects for improved US-Iran ties remain remote.
◢ But by taking the high road, Iran can still make progress in its international relations, especially if it aims to forge deeper ties with Europe.
◢ In early April reports suggested that Iran Air would acquire its first Boeing 777-300ER nearly a year early, purchasing a plane originally built for Turkish Airlines.
◢ But the deal now seems dead and the aircraft has not made the expected flight to Victorville, California for repainting in the Iran Air livery.
◢ Start-up ecosystems in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan show great promise, but entrepreneurs in these three countries remain isolated from one another.
◢ These entreprenuers would benefit from more regional programs that encourage collaboration and shared learnings. Programs on offer in the ASEAN countries offer a compelling model.
◢ In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has confirmed Iran's compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA, or Iran Deal.
◢ This letter reflects an important shift in the Trump administration's view on Iran, publicly confirming faith in verification processes and indicating an intention to craft policy through formal mechanisms.
◢ The recent extension of Iran's Feed-in-Tariffs scheme has renewable energy investors pushing to close deals in the next 12 months to take advantage of the strong government incentive packages.
◢ But FiTs won't last forever, and Iranian energy authorities are working to improve the general mechanisms that support foreign investment in Iran's renewable sector, including the use of Iran's first competitive bidding tenders for renewable energy projects.
◢ The first new Boeing jetliner is likely to be delivered to Iran Air later this month in what will a historic moment for US-Iran relations.
◢ Boeing's deal with Iran Air represents a unique instance in which an American company's exports to Iran directly support American jobs. This simple fact may provide a framework on which US-Iran ties could be stablizied during the course of the Trump administration.
◢ Lake Urmia was once the second largest salt-water lake in the world. But years of environmental mismanagement saw the surface area of the lake shrink by 90%.
◢ After a decade-long initiative led by the United Nations, and supported by the Iranian and Japanese governments, water levels in the lake are finally beginning to rebound.
◢ Automation will fundamentally change labor markets around the world, with the deepest impacts being felt in the manufacturing sector.
◢ While foreign direct investment in Iran will support job growth in manufacturing in the near-term, eventually the push for efficiency gains will include automation and workforce reductions.
◢ Iran's blue-collar workforce is the backbone of the country's economy, but has been largely overlooked by international policymakers and business leaders as a key stakeholder group.
◢ The new populist political environment in the West requires new ways of positioning the Iran Deal. Increasing awareness of Iran's working class could be a powerful way to connect to Western electorates.
