Iran ENVIRO 2016 Great opportunities for Austrian food and environmental technologies in Iran

As part of the Export Initiative headed by the former Federal Minister Andrä Rupprechter, a business delegation, comprising representatives of Austrian environmental technology and food companies, visited the Islamic Republic of Iran from Sunday, February 28, to Thursday, March 3, 2016.

Aside from attending the opening of the Environment Exhibition, which was held in 2016 with the promotion of a Green Economy being the theme, Minister Rupprechter also had working-level talks with the Vice-President and head of the environmental authority, Mrs. Masoumeh Ebtekar, as well as Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati. In addition, Rupprechter visited the waste-water treatment facility, built by the Austrian company ILF, the waste incineration plant of Tehran, a breeding enterprise located outside Tehran with 12,000 cattle (4,000 of them dairy cows), and a research centre for medicinal herbs.

A Programme of Action was developed with the environmental authority, and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were discussed and agreed upon with both the Environment and Agricultural Ministries. All documents will be signed at the end of March 2016, during President Rouhani’s state visit to Vienna.

Business opportunities for Austrian environmental technologies in Iran must be used consistently!

Environmental technology is one of the key areas in the development of Iranian-Austrian cooperation- something that was evident not only at the working-level meeting with the Vice-President and head of the environmental authority, Mrs. Masoumeh Ebtekar, but also at all other bilateral activities and meetings. The message behind the talks was that, due to the many years of good relations, all doors in Iran are open to the Austrian economy, and that Iran is keen to cooperate more closely with Austria. As a result, Austria’s environmental technology companies should make use of this advantage, since the Iranian market offers diverse business opportunities. There is scope for development in almost all industrial sectors, including the field of environmental technology, which involves the establishment of regional state-of-the-art landfills, separate collection and recycling systems, and the degasification and remediation of the existing landfills and contaminated sites. Other areas of development include the establishment of new supply networks, irrigation technologies, the construction of waste water treatment plants, and developing renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaics, solar thermal energy etc.

A promising market for Austrian cattle breeding, agricultural and irrigation technology

In order to strengthen cooperation in the fields of agriculture and forestry, Minister Rupprechter met his colleague, Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati, to discuss a MoU. Once this has been signed, a joint agriculture and forestry committee is to start working, and common projects are to be implemented efficiently. In addition to Austrian irrigation technology, agricultural technologies and cattle breeding are in high demand in Iran. The positive exchange of ideas between the Ministers is set to continue in Austria before the end of this year.