On May 4, 2014, the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies (IMESS) in collaboration with the Danish Foreign Policy Society held a joint seminar on “Iran, Denmark and the Middle East”. IMESS’s resident and visiting research fellows, faculty members, as well as a number of Ph.D. and postgraduate students from different universities in Tehran attended the seminar. Mr. Michael Ehrenreich, Director of the Danish Foreign Policy Society, Dr. Cyrus Razzaghi, President of Ara Enterprise and Dr. Kayhan Barzegar, Director of IMESS exchanged their views on the subject of the session.
Kayhan Barzegar: Welcome to the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies. My name is Kayhan Barzegar and I am the director of this Institute. It is really a pleasure to host such a distinguished delegation from Denmark. Danish Ambassador H.E. Amb. Anders Christian Hougaard is a good friend of our Institute. He has always visited us for different seminars and conferences. IMESS is an institute that works on foreign policy studies and especially the Middle East issues in an academic and policy format. We have resident and visiting fellows who are conducting their research in the context of the Institute’s Studies Groups. We have different academic journals, two in Persian, The Middle East Studies Quarterly and The Regional Studies Quarterly, and one in English, Discourse, An Iranian Quarterly and two in Arabic, Shu’un al- Awsat and The Iranian-Arab Affairs Quarterly. We also have websites in different English, Persian and Arabic Languages. We are almost about 80 people including administrative staff. Some of our colleagues and fellows are present at this session.
About the format of this meeting, I would like to mention a few words about Iran’s foreign policy in the region. I have asked a colleague of us, Dr. Cyrus Razzaghi, to make an overview of Iran’s economic opportunities from a strategic point of view. He is a political economist and knows the latest economic developments well especially from a macro perspective. He is the president of Araenterprise, which a Tehran based corporation mainly conducts investments’ risk analyses. Michael Ehrenreich, Executive Director of the Danish Foreign Policy Society, will also say a few words the aims of your travel to Iran and the impressions you have so far gained from your presence in our country. We agreed each of us talk in 7-8 minutes and then we go to Q & A session. This is an informal meeting. There would be a simple reception after the session and then the group photo in our garden.
Let’s start the session with our guest speaker, Michael could you say a few words first, thanks!
Michael Ehrenreich: Thank you very much Dr. Barzegar and Dr. Razzaghi. Many thanks for welcoming us at your Institute, and as I explained upstairs in your office, we are very grateful for the opportunity to come here and discuss Iran’s foreign policy, as well as economic aspects and Middle Eastern affairs in general. Let me just put a couple of words about our organization. The Danish Foreign Policy Society was founded in 1946 by the former members of Danish resistance fighting the occupation of our country by Nazi Germany during 1940 to 1945. And, the aim of the society has been the same all along to heighten interest in foreign policy and international affairs in general and to facilitate a discussion on the highest level possible in our country about international affairs and we do that in different ways; we organize conferences, seminars and so on. We publish the only foreign policy magazine in the Danish language, three times a year, and we organize study tours to exciting and current countries or regions of world, like this one. Last year, we went to Burma. So, this year we have come to Iran. Now, the delegation here are about 40 members but our society, in all, has around 1200 members, which is quite a lot in a relatively small country like ours. Now, the reason why we come here is that we sense exciting developments on a couple of fronts. First of all, the presidential elections in this country gave quite a significant result, with possible broad ramifications for the region as a whole. And, the nuclear negotiations are now underway in Geneva. As we see it, prospects are good, but of course we look forward to your assessment of that also. And, the second thing that we have noticed is that Iranian influence in this region is on the rise because of some recent developments, the war in Iraq, and maybe also the campaign in Afghanistan that is now winding down, and that of course also makes Iranian foreign policy now and in the future a very interesting aspect. So, to conclude, we've come here to you very much for receiving us and we look forward to this session.
Kayhan Barzegar: Thank you Mr. Ehrenreich for your kind introductory remarks. I would like now to ask Dr. Razzaghi to make his presentation. The floor’s yours.
Cyrus Razzaghi: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! My name is Cyrus Razzaghi. I’m delighted to be here with you today. Let me first say a few words about my work. We have a group of consultancy companies. I have been in the business of providing market intelligence and support for foreign companies to come to Iran, the large ones, even American ones like Coca Cola, we have been consultant to them, we contributed to the first really majority-owned foreign joint venture in Iran with Renault ten years ago, we worked with French partners to bring Renault to Iran, we brought Sony to produce in Iran, etc., so, part of my job is to building bridge between Iranian business community and businessmen and entrepreneurs and their foreign counterparts, especially those who have basically technology and can assist the Iranian businesses to grow beyond their means today. I tell you limits that could be a story; a couple of weeks ago when I was in Dubai having a private lunch with the ex-director of Mckenzie London who a year and a half before that was extremely bearish and pessimistic about Iran, saying that in the absence of an unexpected event, he predicted something very gloomy, a very doomsday scenario, perhaps even a conflict and this year he gave the same kind of speech analysis, he was extremely bullish about Iran, and he said that this time in the absence of an unexpected event, we believe that Iran-West will come to an agreement, definitive agreement sometime within the next few months, sometime in 2014, and therefore, tremendous businesses opportunities and, you know, mending of the relations between Iran and the West. I want to tell you that a couple of weeks ago, I hosted a group of foreigners, entrepreneurs, but mainly Americans, Canadians and British for the first time and Dr. Barzegar was there to give a political sort of analysis of the situation in Iran and they were quite surprised, pleasantly surprised about the kind of welcome they got in Iran and about the sophistication of some the business sectors in Iran including high tech, ICT, nanotechnology and in fact from this group of 20, two of them decided to cooperate and invest in nanotechnology and software, with some start ups here and Isfahan. I believe there are tremendous synergies between Iran and Denmark in the same way, not only the generic industries of food and beverage, which they say Demark is very good at, but also ICT, new technologies, clean energy, environment, energy efficiency, etc. I'm delighted to tell you that with some Danish friends, I am working very closely with them to bring in a concept of Copenhagen which is basically assisting and supporting startup communities in ICT, identifying the good companies and building bridge between them and Danish companies, counterparts in software industries to form perhaps joint research or even co-investment. Now, Iran has many business opportunities in different sectors, not only in energy which is the obvious one, but also in mining, tourism, in ICT as I mentioned, high tech, etc. I will be delighted to answer some of your questions. But without further delay, let me turn you over to my colleague Dr. Barzegar who will start with his political analysis and if I get the chance, I will talk to you again shortly after and answer your questions.
Kayhan Barzegar: Well, thank you Cyrus. I think that was a good way of opening up the discussion, but let me bring a few points about the political situation inside Iran. Let me start off by the nuclear talks. I think despite all the challenges the nuclear issue has brought about in the Iran-West relations, one should not ignore one opportunity and that is how the process of talks has somehow affected the discourse of “moderation” presented by President Rouhani inside Iran’s politics and that is a new opportunity in the relations between two sides. It is important that the western countries understand that the current government of Iran is trying to institutionalize this new discourse inside Iran and reaching a deal that can be acceptable by both sides can help the moderation discourse to take roots in the country. So I think here, the Western side, the European side, especially the American side should understand that how much this situation is important to develop further good relations. The issue of mutual trust matters here. I should also mention that the new political development is a turning point, a genuine change that is coming from the political will of the Iranian society, especially the middle class community, who would like to see improved relations with the West and America based on an equal term. They believe that this is important for Iran’s process of economic development.
My second point is that for processing economic development, Iran needs political stability in the region. This is the point that Michael also brought up about Iran's regional policy and I will explain more about this later on. And, that's why I think this year is important because, as Michael mentioned, I also think that Iran's role and influence in the region is on the rise. If you look at the elections held or are being held inside the region, in Turkey, in Iraq, in Egypt and in Syria, you see that somehow Iran’s role in the regional political issues is rising. In Turkey, the AKP party, led by Prime Minister Erdogan, has won the elections and this will somehow strengthen relations between Iran and Turkey. Here in Tehran there is determination to strengthen comprehensive relations with Turkey under this government, because this is a two-side strategic need. It is clear that the Iran-Turkey relations will be strengthened in the coming months. In Iraq, we see the government of Nuri al Al-Maliki is somehow winning the elections and that simultaneously favors Iran and America. Despite all the criticisms that go to Maliki's government such as monopolizing power, authoritarianism, etc., I think Maliki has managed to bring reasonable stability in Iraq which is key for the country to function. Democratization and other sophisticated matters are important for Iraq but at the top of it, I think, establishing security and stability is still a priority. In Syria, I think Iran is one step further towards convincing the other party of the legitimacy of solving the Syrian crisis based on a political solution. All involved actors are somehow coming to this conclusion that no military solution can be processed in Syria, no military intervention; the only way is all parties sit down and try to find an acceptable political solution. Here I think the role of Iran and Saudi Arabia is significant. In fact, handling the Syrian crisis demonstrates how the regional actors have overwhelmed the role of trans-regional actors and the necessity of having a sort of regional cooperation that basically attempts to benefit from the potentials of regional and foreign actors that can try to solve the issue in the context of the political-security realities of the region. I have worked on this concept for several years. And of course we have the elections in Egypt, which will certainly bring its own geopolitical implications for the region. For Iran, Egypt is a very important player in the region and what matters most for Iran is to see a friendly state in Egypt. In the time of Hosni Mubarak a kind of discourse was developed in Egypt that was mainly anti-Iranian. I think if the Egyptian new government could withdraw from this traditional anti-Iranian sentiment, this will lead Iran to be more accommodative about the Egyptian political developments because preserving geopolitical interests matter for Iran. Egypt unlike Syria is not in Iran's first security circle. Therefore, any friendly government in Egypt would be welcomed by Iran.
My third and last point relates to Iran's characteristics of power which give good sources to develop relations with the international community and the West. Here issues are particularly significant; one is Iran's geographic centrality, which locates the country in the middle of different sub-systems, starting from the Caucasus and Central Asia, Iraq, Lebanon, Persian Gulf and South Asia. Here Iran has the advantage of simultaneously playing a role in connecting different concepts like the energy security, battling terrorism, and solving the regional issues. Of course again Iran’s economic potentials, big size population, and vast consumption markets are significant, that goes to Cyrus presentation earlier.
The other issue is Iran’s identical features. I am sure you have already travelled to many countries in the Middle East, but you should notice something that makes Iran an exception. Again, two things are significant here. First, Iran has a powerful state that can bring stability in this region. For the sake of its state, Iran battles extremism which endangers world security. That is why, Iran is after keeping state system intact in the broader Middle East region. Second, is to have a powerful middle class community which would not let the nation to go towards extremist politics. You might not see but the media in Iran are very strong, they influence the politics and Iran's foreign policy and that goes to different media, reformists or sometimes conservative that means the dynamism of the society having different forces trying to balance each other in the politics. The nation is also responsible to international norms and rules, for instance, in battling piracy and other things. These are the characteristics that make Iran a special country in terms of its state and nation in the region. Such a state will offer a lot of economic, societal, and political opportunities to the international community, as Michael and Cyrus brought up earlier. Here, I stop but I am sure that you would have a lot of comments or questions. I would also be happy, like my colleagues, to answer your questions.
The complete Q & A session will be added to this text soon.
