 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this press conference for all of you here in the room and also on the live stream You're joining the press conference at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 2016 from Davos and We have the great pleasure to be joined on the panel here by Dr. Nahavandiam, the Chief of Staff of the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran Thank you for joining us and also by Dr. Sarif, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran And to my immediate left, I'm joined by Miroslav Dusek, who's the head of Middle East and North Africa at the World Economic Forum And also a member of its executive committee. Thank you for joining us all Mirik, I think everybody in the room knows the importance of this presence here But I would still ask you to give some context from the perspective of the World Economic Forum, please. Thank you, Georg So the perspective from the forum We're very proud to welcome President Rohani here in 2014 in the In the new momentum for Iran and the world and we've been very supportive to the P5 plus 1 process On behalf of the international community Through our impartial platform in Davos, we were very happy to see that there was a Conclusion this past summer and of course, this is a timely moment right now in Davos just today's after the implementation day That was the result of the of the Vienna agreement. So this is the context. We're a warm welcome again to dr. Nava and then dr. Sarif The floor is yours for any Opening statements you would have Very good afternoon to all of you. I think we have moved from a very difficult period in our History and shown that We can in fact make diplomacy work through engagement based on mutual respect and Based on attempting to see the interest of everybody and addressing the interest of everybody without necessarily imposing or Accepting submission. I think that is an important achievement for diplomacy In the international community a good lesson to be applied elsewhere and also an important lesson for our region where conflict and crisis is ravaging throughout the region particularly caused by Extremism and violence and terrorism which cannot be contained to any part of our region So I think it is an important moment in the history of our region We regret the fact that some in our region continue to see conflict and tension as The possibility for them to engage in policies that have proven counterproductive in fact destructive of regional stability and global order we hope that Everybody starts listening to the voice of reason and engage in the common struggle that we all need Against the common enemy Which again is the enemy of all of us extremism and violence today represented by Isis and by a new front and by al-Qaeda Are not going to Be a menace for a particular country or a particular region We have seen from Sydney to Ottawa from Paris to San Bernardino That the same Ideology the same approach just nothing to do with Islam is Ravaging murdering massacring Causing bloodshed and we all need to come together to deal with that and Iran is ready and we call on all our Neighbors to also be ready. I think we showed that Iran is a serious partner in the international community We resolved a crisis that people thought could not be resolved Now let's deal with crises that we all believe can be resolved because the enemy is a common enemy And we all have said at least that we oppose that Thank You, Dr. Sari Thank you very much I Think from economic point of view Welcoming this joint plan of action would be to engage economically Business can best serve peace and cooperation So we have to take this opportunity Which was the result of a win-win approach to economic front Joint ventures Foreign investment Is welcomed in new Iran There are ample opportunities which can serve Job creation not only inside Iran but also For regional cooperation Iran already a strong economy which has proved its resilience during the this long years of sanctions Is ready for any constructive Proposal for many projects which has already been prioritized and can serve the benefit of region and global markets Namely global transit corridors which can go through Iran and Can be very economical cost effective for all cargo and Transportation through airways through Railways maritime transportation Iran is geographically positioned at a part of the world which can be profitable for all to go through Iran Unfortunately because of undue sanctions The world economy has not benefited from this economic Opportunity and capacity On other fields on oil and gas Iran's resources being the largest Reserve of natural gas worldwide and the third largest inventory of oil Can be the one of the best sources for energy security especially for Europe And also for environmental purposes gas is the clean resource of energy so The opportunities for development of gas resources Through LNG for example can reach Even for markets for that purpose Along the same lines The other opportunities in mining field in ICT In hospitality industry Provide ample Opportunities for foreign investors. We have done a great deal of work in the last two years for improvement of Business environment and International Indices show that more than 20 points Improvement show that the government is very serious in cutting the red tape facilitating trade Iran has already Being a an observer in WTO Iran is willing to be a full partner in WTO That would provide even better environment for International collaboration and cooperation. I think the message from Iranian economy is that Iran has the capacity to be the most promising emerging economy in coming decade and Would like to share this opportunity. What's foreign investment? Thank you. Thank you very much We open out the floor for questions if you could state your name and organization for the for the sake of the online audience The Well, I think Your information is greatly exaggerated People like Exaggerated news and that that makes headlines But but the revolutionary guards are a part of Iranian government We're all very proud of them because they played a very active role in defending Iran With with the Iranian army. They're an important institution within the Iranian Governance, they're not a separate institution. They're not a government of their own They have supported the nuclear deal. Of course Iran is not a monolith Iran has many views and That's good It's good that we can entertain a variety of opinion from those who believed strongly In the virtue of the negotiations to those who protested in the most vehement terms I think you can see the same Basically in the United States with the difference that In Iran those who were opposed to the deal were not opposed because they wanted nuclear weapons But because they did not trust the United States Due to past US approach towards Iran and we hope that the United States would take measures now in order to remedy That mistrust that is deep rooted within the general Iranian population From the most secular to the most religious elements in Iran So I do not see the revolutionary guards as a problem You saw the cooperation between the Iranian government The Foreign Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards in the release of US sailors which was smooth happened in in in a very short Interval because the Revolutionary Guards and and the Foreign Ministry determined that the sailors had in fact astrayed Into Iranian territory was not intentional There was no need to keep them and that is why we set them free So that if that is an example, you will see what is to come in the future I do not believe a duality or a dichotomy needs to be Injected into into the Iranian system. In fact, we have a multitude of views Within the Revolutionary Guards outside the Revolutionary Guards and that is a sign of a good healthy vibrant democracy Thank you. So Paul and then please the lady in the back Representative the opposition Spokesman who've been chosen at the meeting in Saudi Arabia sit at the table and How do you envisage in the medium term the future of Iraq with or without? President Assad final question if I may I Know that relations with Saudi Arabia are Broken at the moment. Are you doing anything here in Davos to try and fix them a little bird? Told me you might be meeting Prince Turkey. Is that correct? And the fourth question. All right. Thank you. Can we get the microphone to the lady in the back there? Well? As far as Syria is concerned Unfortunately Iran was excluded Because of some pressure from the country you named in the past From the nuclear from the Syrian discussions since Iran was included. I'm not boasting but roads opened up to to an agreement for the first time in In four years you had the first meeting for Security Council resolution coming out of the Syria talks I'm not saying it's only due to Iranian presence, but it certainly played a role We have presented ideas about peace in Syria. We believe that peace in Syria comes through Giving the decision to the Syrian people not determining for the Syrian people what should be this decision? We believe that we should not set preconditions now I think The majority of the international community has come along on our side some people were setting because of the whole the they were Basically entrenched in a position that was not viable that somebody has to go before you have a political process in Syria And that dragged the conflict for almost five years now because some of our friends in the region Believe that Syria war would be over within three weeks You remember the story about end of Syria war by the end of Ramadan We have had for Ramadan since then and the Syria war still drags on because there is an illusion in our region That there is a military solution to Syria that's only an illusion and Iran knew that that was an illusion and we insisted on a political Resolution of this issue that is why we put on the table a plan for a political resolution a four-point plan Which according to secretary Kerry in his speech before the security council formed the basis for the security council resolution That is now out that plan requires everybody to engage in a ceasefire localize that it may be or general ceasefire a national unity government Dialogue inside Syria in order to revise the Constitution and elections based on that Constitution that is the gist of what a political process must be you cannot determine the outcome of this political process before it starts That was the attempt you do not enter a negotiating room with The outcome already decided you're supposed to decide the outcome in the negotiating room as far as for the opposition is concerned the United Nations Mr. Dimistura is Entitled and was mandated by the security council to form the opposition and to call who the opposition is to form the opposition delegation The insistence by Saudi Arabia in the meeting in New York that the group that was formed in the out Form the opposition was rejected basically It is the job of Mr. Dimistura to form that opposition and Mr Dimistura will form the opposition based on the principle of first including all opposition groups and then excluding those who belong to internationally recognized terrorist organizations and we have three of them now ISIS and Nusra and Al Qaeda So anybody who is a car carrying of any of these three terrorist organizations car carrying member should be excluded Unfortunately in reality there were ten car carrying members of Al Qaeda present so they cannot be included, but that is not for us to decide We are not making a determination We are not going to say who should participate and who should not participate It is for Mr. Dimistura to to decide who will participate and I'm sure he will apply this agenda this this criteria On who should participate did I answer all questions or did I I think you got no there won't be a secret meeting Here Iran did not break diplomatic relations Iran responded with a lot of self-restraint to Extensive provocation by Saudi Arabia including its fight to destroy I to destroy the nuclear deal Before it was it took shape It spent millions of dollars in the United States to kill it in Congress It has done everything it could to undermine it since its inception now Thankfully and because of the resilience of the Iranian people we put it We implemented it long before people thought it was possible So I believe our Saudi neighbors should come to their senses and understand that they have a much better future In collaboration and coordination and accommodation with Iran and we're ready for that. Thank you Kathy Newman from channel for news. What do you say to EU companies on sanctions? Because obviously the nuclear sanctions have been lifted, but some US sanctions remain What do you say to those EU companies that are nervous about reaching those sanctions and Given that there's an under-representation of female delegates and the guys all got several questions just a couple more Now the oil is at 28 US dollars a barrel How does that affect your plan to get Iranian oil back onto the market and just to press you on that final question on relations with Saudi Arabia I'm not sure you quite answered the my colleague's question on just how you're gonna rebuild Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Thank you. If you could pass the microphone just to the lady in front I'll just answer the last question. The other two are directed more at dr. Navan. Yeah, who knows much better than I do As I told you we did not break diplomatic relations with Saudi. They did Actually, there was no reason to break diplomatic relations because the embassy incident was condemned at the heart highest level today, even the leader condemned it the president condemned it We condemned it every segment of the society condemned it. We took measures to To prevent it. Unfortunately, we failed we considered it as an upfront to our security that this Incident happened we immediately informed the Saudis that their security and safety of their diplomats was totally Assured and we provided them with extra police protection. They decided to break diplomatic relations Then decide then they decided to up the ante by asking others to break diplomatic relations Then that they decided to up the ante by breaking all commercial ties with Iran breaking all Traveling in between Iran and Saudi Arabia. We have not done any of that Well, it takes two to tango as you say and we are already beyond halfway. We have not done Any act of provocation. We have exercised self-restraint with regard to their provocative acts We have always been open to dialogue with all our neighbors We actually propose dialogue with our neighbors. We are ready We believe that Saudi Arabia needs to make a choice Saudi Arabia has tried to keep the old status quo in our region because they thought change Was not in their interest. We believe they were mistaken. We believe they unnecessarily panicked and They created a lot of mess in our region. We are prepared to undo that Unfortunate situation that they have created by panicking because we believe that was on call for to begin with Thank you. Okay Yeah She just mentioned about the oil and that's exactly what I want to ask you I'm from Nikkei group Nikkei plus 10 Malco Kutani and I would like to ask you about the oil oil prices really rapidly declining and You actually will be exporting oil as well and including overall within the OPEC You have decided that there will not be the reduction of the production of the oil in the near future and now Joining as one of the the export countries of the oil Are you going to be addressing that there should be the reduction in the near future to raise the prices of the oil? Thank you. Thank you very much Exactly for the purpose of clarification of What is to be done after lift of sanctions? One of the outcomes of JCPOA Negotiations in the document itself. There was one annex Related to the sanctions lifting of sanctions and right after that may as EU 5 plus 1 have committed themselves they worked hard on Providing two guidelines one by EU and one by United States along with a FAQ document just to serve the purpose of Clarifying to the business community of what they can do after lift of sanctions European companies Can refer to that guideline which shows very vividly That all areas of business now is open anything which was related to Nuclear related sanctions are now open and With regards to American rules as it has been clarified in that Public announcement Not only European companies even US subsidiary companies Which have interests for US persons now? They are allowed to do business with Iran especially the European financial Institutions now they can have all kind of transaction with Iranian banks Which are now out of sanctions With the exception and regarding the practice of not transiting their financial transaction through American land number two not having transaction with as the enlisted persons and not taking the participation of their branches in the United States otherwise and European financial institution can have all the dealings with Iranian banks from the day of Implementation and they have already started they have started having LCs being opened and With regards to other companies multi-nationals As long as they are practicing the investment trade Financing of trade and investment all kinds of that as allowed all of those sanctions are lifted and the document goes as far as clarifying the Concept of snapback which was part of the JCPOA document that in the case that there is some break in the Implementation from either side They have expressed that both sides will try Not to go back to the sanctions. So they will have all of their efforts To serve that purpose but even in the case of any sanction coming back all Investment contracts will not be affected. So that would give enough peace of mind to companies international companies to engage in different kinds of Business with Iran on the oil issue One of the outcomes of these long sanction years was that Iranian economy Instead of relying too much on oil revenue Now it's relying on other lines of production good services For example The budget which was Given by the government to our parliament just last week by the president The reliance on oil revenue is a record low. It is only 25% and You just compare that with other oil producing and all exporting countries and you can see that how vulnerable they are and the Level of vulnerability in Iranian economy and budget has become very low You said that The oil price is diminishing not everybody is in agreement with you. There are some analysts who are looking at the prospect of increase in world growth rate in 2016 the demand will go up On the point of Iranian position on supply of oil Iran would certainly go back to its Share in oil market now that the sanctions are lifted We have to go to the balance that we had before but All oil producing and exporting countries Can have the chance to come together and Make a decision on a fair base Thank you. Thank you. Mindful of the time. Maybe we have time for one short question For ministers a reef hide Jimmy Keaton from Associated Press you mentioned the incident with the sailors What if any apology did you receive from US officials? Through God that and if you could please comment on the what some what some are calling a humiliating video of the sailors Well, we were told that the sailors were in Iranian waters by mistake That they did not intend to violate Iranian territorial waters and That They have taken measures in order to avoid this in the future The sailors themselves did offer Apology I Do not particularly like that picture, but it seems to me that Pictures were taken and were leaked to the press today of almost nothing can be controlled You have to understand that these were armed men who had transgressed into our territory and at the time of their capture at the time of their capture before our Coast guards revolutionary guards Navy determined that they had lost their way and were there Unintentionally they had to follow normal procedure and normal procedure is to board the ship Disarm its members and arrest them and bring them to shore and investigate what happened. So no Humiliation was intended Picture that was taken was in order to show that there was no mistreatment Other pictures were taken in order to show that the people who were arrested were being treated well Now some of the pictures may have been best left in the in the archives For future reference if anybody raised a question of mistreatment rather than released to the press But these days we cannot control you guys Thank you very much. I think we're out of time. I know there is a lot of questions. Thank you very much for your questions Thank you for joining us. Thank you for watching and especially. Thank you to our panelists. Thank you