German Government Promoting Business with Iran Despite Existing Sanctions
German companies and the Federal Government are promoting business with Iran at full speed. In Berlin, German Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel will meet Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh today. The oil minister will also speak at the “Energy Security Summit”, which takes place today in Berlin and is organized by the Munich Security Conference under the auspices of Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier. Zanganeh will also meet representatives from the companies Siemens, Linde and Lurgi in Munich, according to Iranian media reports. [1]
Another conference dealing with the reentry into the Iranian market has the support of the Federal Ministry of Economics. The conferenced is organized by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry and will take place on May 19 in Berlin. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel will open the conference with a welcoming speech. [2]
The Near and Middle East Association Numov invites to a conference on the same day, entitled “Doing Business in Iran”. Numov invites the director of the Iranian Bank of Industry and Mines, which is on EU and US sanctions lists. [3]
In Iran, the German Engineering Association VDMA is represented with a booth at the ongoing Iran Oil trade show. [4] The technology fair INOTEX will take place in early June with the support of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. [5]
Numerous chambers of commerce train companies throughout Germany in strategies for the “re-entry” into business in Iran, in spite of recent multi-billion dollar fines against Commerzbank and PayPal for violations and ongoing investigations against companies like Deutsche Bank. [6]
STOP THE BOMB spokesperson Ulrike Becker comments: “German companies and their lobby organizations are undermining the pressure on the Iranian regime with the support of the Federal Government. This makes a bad deal with Iran very likely. Without pressure a nuclear Iran will be unstoppable – the nuclear bomb of an anti-Semitic regime that is the most important supporter of international Islamist terrorism, which suppresses its own people massively, denies the Holocaust, threatens Israel with destruction and executes homosexuals. The greed of the German companies also shows how unrealistic it is to reintroduce sanctions when they are once canceled in a bad agreement.”
[1] See Munich Security Conference, Mehrnews, Iranians Forum.
[2] See http://www.dihk.de/themenfelder/international/news?m=2015-04-08-konferenz-weltwirtschaftConference Announcement
[3] See conference announcement, Iranians forum
[4] See VDMA website
[5] See INOTEX brochure, page. 7
[6] See an overview of the campaign STOP THE BOMB
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