Iran foreign investment hits record

Iran has beaten a historical record in attracting direct foreign investments, Head of Iran's Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance Behrouz Alishiri said. "In 2010, the country has broken a record in attraction of direct foreign investment, and statistics indicate that we had the highest [investment] attraction rate compared with all the previous years," Alishiri told the Iranian government's official website. Alishiri, however, pointed out that it takes a month to release the exact figure for the investment growth. The Iranian official also noted that Iran plans to boost its attraction of foreign investment by 50 percent. In 2009, Iran also saw the highest rate of foreign investment attraction and with an 86-percent growth, the figure hit the all-time record of $3 billion, and ranked Iran among the top six countries in this respect, the (Press TV) quoted the official as saying Sunday. Alishiri praised the achievement and underscored the importance of maintaining the current pace. He downplayed the effects of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, arguing the growth indicate that foreign entities take heed of favorable economic factors rather than political reservations.