H.E. Mr. Hossein Panahiazar:

First, I thank the committee for inviting me. It is a pleasure and an honour to be here to discuss the issues of interest for both countries. I will speak in my introduction about my country and perhaps in the members' questions we will discuss all the issues that are important for both sides.

Members will have a general idea about Iran but I will only mention some points. In the name of God, Iran, which is known also as Persia, with several thousands years of history and civilisation, is located in a strategic area of the Middle East. It has 15 neighbours, some of them with a variety of regional problematic issues. Iran has a population of 75 million and is located in a region with a population of 300 million. We have very close relations in that area.

The Islamic revolution of 1979 was rooted in the constitutional movement in Iran in 1905, whereupon, for the first time in that region, Iranian people could realise their right to have a national parliament. Five decades later, in a popular uprising, Iranians were able to overcome the dictatorship of the Shah and introduce a popular government. Unfortunately, it was subsequently suppressed by a foreign-supported coup d'état in 1953, and the Shah came back to power. The struggle was not over, and two decades later new ways of uprising led to the collapse of the Shah's regime in 1979. The Islamic revolution came up with the slogans of independence and freedom, and a new age of political, economic and cultural life began for the Iranian people based on those slogans. Following the revolution the state's main policies basically changed, especially foreign policy. At the top, there was a withdrawal from military alliances. Iran was part of the western military alliance in that region. We hosted more than 30,000 military experts in that time and they all had to leave. We joined the Non-Aligned Movement, ceased our relations with the apartheid regime in South Africa and supported Mr. Mandela and the African National Congress, ANC. We shifted our foreign policy towards supporting the Palestinians' legal rights.

In terms of regional policy, Iran has always taken and promoted peaceful approaches as a part of the solution. It has helped to find just solutions through diplomacy and dialogue. During the past 30 years Iran hosted more than 3 million Afghan and Iraqi refugees and displaced persons. We still have more than 1.5 million refugees and Iran is one of the largest refugee destinations in the world. We have also been a pioneer in the fight against drug trafficking, despite the huge casualties and expense. We have a long border with Afghanistan, approximately 1,000 km in length. In terms of economic capacity, Iran is third in oil reserves and second in natural gas reserves in the world and, as such, is a significant energy exporter.

In terms of bilateral relations, Iran and Ireland established formal relations approximately four decades ago, during which our co-operation has been positive. The two countries have often had common viewpoints and positions towards a wide range of international issues, particularly with regard to disarmament. Political and parliamentary delegations have repeatedly visited each other in Tehran and Dublin. A total of nine parliamentary delegations, including delegations from the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs - now including the term "Trade" - have visited Iran and exchanged views. We are interested in continuing co-operation with the Irish Parliament, and establishing parliamentary friendship groups in the parliaments of both countries will help in this objective.

In terms of economic relations, in the past, between 1976 and 1996, when BSE emerged in Europe and the importation of Irish beef to Iran was stopped, the total annual imports of beef from Ireland to Iran was 50,000 tonnes, which was quite high. Despite the closure of the Irish Embassy in Tehran last year, our embassy attaches great importance to the expansion of relations between our two countries and has worked hard to remove the ban on the imports of Irish beef to Iran. With the efforts of our embassy, a high ranking delegation from the Veterinary Organisation of Iran visited Ireland in April of this year. I am honoured and pleased to announce that the process route of Irish beef shipments to Iran has been concluded and the ban is lifted.

Total beef production in Iran is approximately one million tonnes per annum but we still have a shortage of between 50,000 and 200,000 tonnes, which is mainly supplied from other countries but by the same Irish dealers who used to export beef directly from Ireland. Therefore, the connections still exist. Currently, the bilateral trade volume between Iran and Ireland is about €87 million, €80 million of which is Irish exports to Iran. To speed up the process of Irish beef exports to Iran, as well as to increase the bilateral trade relations, my specific proposal is that a delegation from this committee, headed by the Chairman, Deputy Pat Breen, would travel to Tehran where they can meet their counterparts and relevant officials in the chamber of commerce. Such a trip will surely encourage more business ties between the two countries.

Regarding the other areas for trade and co-operation between the two countries, I will only mention two important fields. With our increasing population, the Iranian market has the potential to attract all kinds of pharmaceutical products from Ireland. Furthermore, because the population in Iran is overwhelmingly young, the numbers of Iranians wishing to attend foreign universities in all fields is increasing. Last year there were approximately 600,000 participants in the entrance exams for PhD courses in Iran but we have only 75,000 places. The remainder of the students will have to reapply for subsequent years or else try to gain entrance to foreign universities. The presence of good, high ranking universities in Ireland means our two countries can work successfully in this area. However, the long process of granting visas to foreign students needs to be changed.

These are the main points that I wanted to raise in my introduction. I should also say that the EU regulations regarding trade with Iran, which were established in 2010, very clearly exempt food, agricultural products, medicines or goods for other humanitarian purposes. The regulations also mention that the normal trade between EU countries and Iran can continue. Therefore, the areas where there is potential for increasing trade between our two countries are outside the restrictions currently in place in the EU.

I am sure the committee will ask questions about nuclear and other issues, so I will leave those matters to the question and answer session to follow.