Minister Sees Saudi Investing in Iran ‘Very Quickly’

Date: 15 March 2023 - 22:02

News ID: ۱۱۳۴۵۰

RIYADH (Dispatches) -- Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, Muhammad al-Jadaan, said on Wednesday that Saudi investments into Iran could happen “very quickly” following an agreement.
“There are a lot of opportunities for Saudi investments in Iran. We don’t see impediments as long as the terms of any agreement would be respected,” al-Jadaan said during the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh.
Asked how soon the world might see the kingdom making significant investments into Iran and vice versa, al-Jadaan replied: “I would say very quickly.”
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to re-establish relations after years of tense relations.
Tehran and Riyadh agreed to resume diplomatic relations and re-open embassies within two months, according to a statement issued by Iran, Saudi Arabia and China, which brokered the deal.
“To focus on your economic development and focus on providing for the people in your country, you need stability, and they (Iran) need both,” al-Jadaan said in Riyadh.
He said there are a lot of opportunities in Iran and that Saudi Arabia also provides a lot of opportunities for them.
“Iran is our neighbor, and has been and will continue to be for hundreds of years,” he said. “So I don’t see any issue that would prevent normalization of the relationship, cross-investments etc., as long as we stick to agreements — you know, respecting sovereign rights, not interfering in others’ affairs, respecting united nation conventions and others. So I don’t see any, really, impediments.”
The countries have additionally agreed that previous cooperation accords — namely a “Security Cooperation Agreement” from 2001 and a “General Agreement for Cooperation” from 1998 covering the fields of trade, economy, sports, technology, science, culture, sports and youth — would be revived.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016, after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi

embassy in Tehran in response to Saudi authorities executing 47 dissidents, including a leading Shia cleric.

Former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal expressed optimism that the agreement between Tehran and Riyadh will be a “game-changer” for the West Asia region.

In an interview with France 24 on Tuesday, Faisal said the “rapprochement” between Iran and Saudi Arabia would affect the developments in major countries in the West Asia region, such as Yemen and Syria.

“China was the one that could pull it off because it has good relations with both of us,” Faisal told France 24 in the interview. “Neither the United States nor Europe would have been able to be an honest broker between two parties.”

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) announced on Tuesday that flights between Iran and Saudi Arabia will resume after the issuance of official permits.

“After studying the issue, the necessary and official permits for these flights will be issued and flights will be carried out between the two countries,” Jafar Yazarlou, the spokesman of CAO, said in an interview with Tasnim news agency.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters, enraged by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its embassy in Tehran.

The two sides had held five rounds of negotiations in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad since April 2021.