The visit is one element in a rapidly shifting business landscape in Iran as investors prepare for a lifting of the sanctions if a nuclear deal is signed in coming months between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and world powers.

Rouhani’s election in 2013 on a reformist platform had already brought “a huge change of interest in Iran,” said Rouzbeh Pirouz, Harvard-educated chairman of Turquoise. “Now, with the prospect of the nuclear agreement, that interest has been much, much more.”

The group showed the outsiders the best-performing sectors in Iran: cement, which benefits from low energy costs; mobile telecommunications in a country of 80 million people with mobile phone penetration of 105 percent; and food and beverages, in which one firm, Behshahr Industrial Development Corp., quadrupled its profits over the past two years. Read more.

with the prospect of sanctions easing, Iran might be on eve of a hi-tech revolution. Hundreds of Iranian startups have been invited to attend a conference titled iBridges in Berlin. This will be a rare opportunity for them to meet with investors from around the world. The Iranian participants include the founders of Digikala, an online e-commerce platform (the biggest in the Middle East with some 750,000 unique visitors per day) and the creators of Aparat, an Iranian version of YouTube, as well as Takhfifan (a Groupon-type website). Read more.

Tehran may be thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley, home to the world’s largest hi-tech corporations and most innovative startups, but technologically, Iran’s online entrepreneurs are getting closer – despite mutual political hostility and international sanctions. This Thursday in Germany hundreds of Iranian startups will catch up with investors from around the globe in the biggest gathering of its kind, in a bid to bridge the gap. Read more.

The Obama administration repeatedly cautions that tough bargaining remains ahead of a June 30 deal deadline to curb Iran’s nuclear programs, but already a number of countries — including some of the U.S.’s key allies in the talks — are lining up partners and announcing deals for the day when economic and financial sanctions against Tehran are lifted. Read More.

The biggest gathering of Iranians outside of the Islamic Republic in more than 30 years will take place in Berlin next month. As many as 2,000 participants — mostly Iranians from the US, Europe and Iran as well as foreign investors — will attend the iBridges conference, a sign of the pent-up interest in investing in Iran if and when international sanctions are lifted. Read more.

World Leaders answer “Why invest in Turkey? Why invest in Borsa İstanbul?”
January 23, 2015

The meeting entitled “Why invest in Turkey?” Why invest in Borsa İstanbul?” organized by Borsa İstanbul as part of the 45th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum was held in Davos, Switzerland.

The meeting discussed Turkey’s economic power and potential, and the leading representatives of the global business and investment circles were informed about Borsa İstanbul’s efforts toward the vision of becoming a more effective exchange globally with its extended product diversity and efficient market structure. The meeting was participated by world-known investors as well as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan, European Union Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır and Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek. Justice and Development Party Vice President and Spokesperson Beşir Atalay was also present at the meeting.

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