FIRST BUSINESS MISSION OF THE Cc-Ti AND THE LCTA IN IRAN
Teheran, April 29 – May 3, 2017
From April 29 to May 3, 2017, a large delegation from Ticino (25 people) attended the first business mission to Iran organized by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Handicrafts and Services of Canton Ticino (Cc-Ti) and the Lugano Commodity Trading Association (LCTA), in close collaboration with Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE). Leading the delegation – Michele Rossi (Cc-Ti), Marco Passalia (Cc-Ti/LCTA) and Monica Zurfluh (S-GE).
The participants, representatives of various sectors (banking, fiduciary, commodity trading, energy, automotive, construction,…), have followed an intense program, which was aimed at providing companies with an overview on the Iranian market through seminars and institutional meetings, and, at the same time, to provide concrete contacts with potential partners through the organization of B2B meetings.
Highlights of the program were the official meetings with the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Switzerland, Mr. Stéphane Rey, who provided an extremely detailed briefing on the current situation in Iran, and the meeting at the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture. Marco Passalia, Deputy Director of the Cc-Ti, and some members of the delegation met Mr. Pedram Soltani, Vice-President of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce. During the fruitful meeting, the importance of the progress of the economic relations between Switzerland and Iran was highlighted and some areas where there is great potential for the development of synergies were identified, especially in the field of pharma and life sciences, in the commodity trading and fashion.
The participants also took part in the conference “Key business sectors in Switzerland“, organized by the Cc-Ti and the LCTA, in close collaboration with the Iran-Switzerland Chamber of Commerce. A selected audience of potential partners attended to the conference and had the opportunity to listen the representatives from Ticino who presented the main sectors of the Ticino economy through four panels (Swiss Energy Technologies / Swiss Life Sciences / Swiss Technologies in the automotive sector and Swiss commodity trading). It was therefore a key moment of the program where Swiss companies had an additional opportunity to widen their network of local contacts.
The meetings and exchanges during this visit were very fruitful and the great number of participants to the mission proved the remarkable interest to Iran, a Country that at the moment undoubtedly attracts a lot. The success of the mission confirms the relevance of the work of Cc-Ti and LCTA on the Iranian market. The next steps obviously depend on the political developments in Iran and at an international level, which the Cc-Ti is actively monitoring.
Cc-Ti and LCTA will continue to create these great opportunities in the future in order to give the possibility to the companies to develop contacts with foreign markets. We remind you that the priority countries for our activities at the moment are: Russia and the CIS countries (Ukraine, Kazakhstan) and Iran.