Municipality of Mashhad
Opportunities and challenges for foreign investments in Iranian metropolises
Last week, the Municipality of Mashhad hosted a two-day workshop on “Foreign Investment: Challenges and Opportunities” for city representatives and senior managers from all over Iran. The activity was conducted jointly by the teams of the Metropolis Training regional center in Mashhad and the FMDV Asian Regional Office. The workshop focused on the opportunities and challenges of foreign finance and investment in urban management.
The objectives of this workshop were:
- Understanding the rules, regulations, and processes of foreign investment in Iran
- Familiarity with national and provincial legal considerations
- Examining the possibility of using foreign investment of Iranian municipalities
- Challenges of Foreign Investment in Iranian Cities
- Define urban projects in such a way as to be bankable
The program counted on the participation of 13 urban and regional experts, ensuring the representation of all Metropolis members in Iran – Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz and Isfahan – as well as other Iranian cities (Qum, Zahedan, Zanjan, Sari, Hamadan, Qazvin, Khalilshahr, and Bojnourd). Case studies and best practices were discussed to bring knowledge exchange between cities and to provide participants with examples that can illustrate the principles, productive discussion, and facilitate better understanding of the contents.
The training activity, attended by over 50 city officials, provided a special opportunity for urban financial experts to become acquainted with the process of attract finance and foreign investments according to national regulations.
The training workshops were conducted by professional experts from OIETAI (Organization for investment Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran); Mr. Ghahramani and Mr. Salimiyan.
Mr. Shahriar Alesheykh, Deputy of Mashhad City Planning and Human Capital Development inaugurated the meeting with a welcoming speech. He said: “In the municipality of Mashhad, there is a strong desire to use various financial resources and investments, including the domestic and foreign capital.”
After conducting sessions last year with international experts to introduce foreign financial capacities that can be used in the municipalities, Al Alesheykh reported that the MITI and FMDV teams were inspired to hold this session with the participation of national audiences, in order to help them better know the procedures that could be used to facilitate the flow of foreign investment to local authorities.
