ALEX Salmond has led a fact-finding mission to Tehran in a bid to open a dialogue between Scotland and Iran and boost economic and cultural links between the two nations.
The former first minister was joined by MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, MSP Bill Kidd and Azzam Mohammad, director of the Islamic charity, Ahl Al Bait Society in Scotland for the four-day visit.
The delegation met with Iranian government ministers covering foreign affairs, education, energy and comes five months after western sanctions were lifted after Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities and reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel and nuclear weapons.
US President Barack Obama, who helped broker the agreement in Vienna, said at the time it marked “one more chapter in our pursuit of a more helpful and more hopeful world”.
Salmond, the SNP spokesman on foreign affairs at Westminster, said it was “vital” Scotland was in a strong position to do business with Iran.
“The international agreement with Iran and rapprochement with the West which has accompanied it is the single most positive development in international relations over the last year and the most important diplomatic achievement of the Obama administration,” he said.
“Now that Iran has taken these steps forward to return to international community, many countries have been pursuing the prospect of a new market place for their goods and a new trading partner.
“It is vital that Scotland is not left behind as our key strengths, particularly in education, agricultural technology and oil and gas and finance, are precisely what Iran will find useful after 25 years of sanctions.”
He said the mission, which also involved talks with the Governor of the Iranian Central Bank, paved the way for an education and business delegation in the spring which would then be reciprocated by a similar group from Iran to Scotland.
Ahmed-Sheikh, the SNP Westminster Trade and Investment spokeswoman, who is vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Iran, said human rights and gender equality concerns were raised at a meeting with Iranian ministers.
“We are also taking the opportunity in every ministerial meeting to raise human rights issues both international and domestic to Iran including gender equality,” she said.
She added there was a huge potential to develop educational links with Iran as currently only 6 per cent of applicants for a master’s degree were accepted onto programmes in the country’s universities.
“This would indicate a key area of investment within Iran, and an opportunity for educational institutions elsewhere to meet this demand. Educational partnerships will be good for us, and good for Iran,” she added.
Kidd, who co-chairs the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), said a recent announcement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there is no evidence of a possible military dimension in Iran’s nuclear programme “would open many possibilities for trade and cultural exchange”.
“Scotland has a world-wide reputation, both civically and politically, for opposition to the continued existence of nuclear weapons both at home and internationally and the Scottish Government is both in favour of a nuclear weapons convention and of UN General Secretary, Ban Ki Moon’s Five-Point-Plan for a world free from nuclear weapons,” he said.
“We believe that Iran’s re-emergence on the world stage as a full international partner in the debate on nuclear disarmament can only enhance the prospects of achieving that goal, which is the aim of the great majority of nations and peoples across the globe.”
According to Human Rights Watch’s World Report for 2015 human rights violations in Iran continue to be a significant problem despite the more moderate President Hassan Rouhani coming to power in 2013.
The report said that between 200 and 400 people were executed in the 12 months leading up to October 2014. Some executions were in public.
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