Sweden seeks closer economic cooperation with Iran

Stockholm inks five deals with Tehran during PM’s two-day visit; Khamenei praises country for its ‘long relationship’ with the regime

By ToI Staff 12 February 2017, 10:07 pm Edit
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven (l) meets Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, February 11, 2017, (Screen capture: YouTube)
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven (l) meets Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, February 11, 2017, (Screen capture: YouTube)

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on Sunday wrapped up a two-day visit to Iran with a pledge to bolster economic ties between the two countries.

Löfven said he discussed “economic relations and important regional problems, and we will try to implement the agreements.” He said that along with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the two leaders signed five deals in “technology, research, roads, communications and women affairs,” according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Sweden, saying that “due to its long relationship with Iran, Sweden is a country with a good reputation in the eyes of our people, and the optimism of nations towards each other will be fertile ground for developing cooperation,” Reuters reported.

Löfven told journalists he discussed human rights issues with Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, but did not give any further details.

Iran has a grave human rights record, and earlier this month arrested Ahmadreza Djalali, a researcher in a Swedish institute, and sentenced him to death.

https://twitter.com/JohnDelacour/status/830552784160321537

Khamenei stressed his country trusted Sweden to implement agreements. “We know you to be a man of action and hope you will act in a way so the accords do not just stay on paper,” Khamenei reportedly told Löfven.

Before sanctions were imposed on Iran, the country was Stockholm’s largest trading partner, and the Sweden is keen to return to those levels.

One of the Swedish companies eager to do business with Iran was the transportation company Scania, which signed a deal to sell the regime 1,350 buses for public transportation in five cities.

Sweden prides itself on its so-called feminist foreign policy which claims that “equality between women and men is a fundamental aim of Swedish foreign policy.”

Despite this, the women in the Swedish delegation all donned headscarves before meeting Rouhani, and appeared to have no qualms doing business with a country with one of the worst records of women’s rights in the world.

Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin recently mocked US President Donald Trump’s photo signing an anti-abortion executive order surrounded by men by signing a climate law flanked only by women.

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