The Iranian parliament has approved plans for launching five new free trade zones (FTZ) in the north and east of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The parliament on Monday allowed the government to prepare the \nrequired conditions for developing two major FTZs in Sarakhs and \nDogharoun, areas on the border with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dogharoun, the gateway for official trade between Iran and \nAfghanistan for more than a century, will be developed as Iran\u2019s largest\n FTZ in an area of around 8,700 hectares, said reports in the local \nmedia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Establishing the zones in the eastern province of Razavi Khorasan is \nexpected to help local economy in the normally underdeveloped regions \nacross the border between Iran and Afghanistan as more investment will \nbe attracted to the FTZs due to eased restrictions governing such areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the parliament bill passed on Monday, the Iranian \ngovernment will also launch three FTZs in the northern province of \nMazandaran, a hub for agriculture where exports of farming products to \ncountries to the north of Iran have increased over the past years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three new FTZs will be developed in port cities on the Caspian \nSea, namely Amirabad, Fereydunkenar, and Noshahr, said the media \nreports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran says foreign direct investment shrank in year ending March by 22.5 percent at $854 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the five Iranian locations approved to become FTZs had already served as special economic zones (SEZ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran\u2019s Guardian Council, which vets legislation by the parliament, \nshould endorse the bill passed on new FTZs before it is coming into \nforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Announcing new economic and trade zones in Iran come as the country \nseeks to boost trade with neighboring countries in a bid to access new \nsources of foreign currency and offset the impacts of a series of \nAmerican sanctions that have hampered its sale of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Iranian parliament has approved plans for launching five new free trade zones (FTZ) in the north and east of the country. The parliament on Monday allowed the government to prepare the required conditions for developing two major FTZs in Sarakhs and Dogharoun, areas on the border with Afghanistan. Dogharoun, the gateway for official trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[747,8,6],"tags":[118,498,28,639,178],"yoast_head":"\n