Geneva firm gets foothold in Iran

A general view of a petrochemical complex in Asalouyeh, Iran, on the northern coast of Persian Gulf. Keystone

An engineering company from Geneva has become the first Swiss firm to win a contract with Iran’s oil and gas industries since international sanctions against the country were lifted as part of last year’s historic nuclear deal.

Welding Engineers, a Geneva-based company that supplies synthetic rubber finishing lines, signed a contract with Iran’s Sadaf Petrochemical Assaluyeh Co., according to Swiss and Iranian news agencies.

The Swiss company, along with some Italian firms, will help build a plant in southern Iran that makes several categories of finished products and a synthetic rubber product used in the petrochemical industry.

Swiss businesses, like many others around the world, have been eager to get a foothold in the Iranian market now that most trade sanctions have been lifted.

Due to its political neutrality, diplomacy and development interests, Switzerland has maintained a decades-long special relationship with Iran; however there remain obstacles to doing business with the Mideast nation relating to banking, bureaucracy and corruption.

Iran’s newly opened marketplace results from the nuclear deal among six world powers and Iran to curb the Mideast nation’s nuclear programme.