- 14 Apr 2016
Iran Reconnected: The Shape and Impact of International Commercial and Financial Interactions
Abstract
Iran has the world’s largest isolated economy, increasingly detached from normal international commercial and financial interaction since 1979 through escalating embargoes and sanctions. Notwithstanding the relative isolation and sanctions, its economy is among the top 30 globally, broadly developed and surprisingly diverse.
The 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 prepared the way for a reversal of this relative isolation. Since then, large parts of the elaborate international sanctions architecture have been dismantled (while a significant portion remains), trade and political delegations aplenty have visited Tehran and significant commercial engagements are being discussed. The attractors commonly mentioned are the size of Iran’s economy and population, its natural resources, human capital and strategic situation.
As Iran re-connects and re-engages with (most of) the world, its commercial interactions will be influenced by the structure of the economy, the nature of the dominant players, the legal and regulatory environment, the local business culture and the effects of isolation.
In turn, international interaction will begin to impact Iran’s economy, commercial environment and outlook. A re-connected and re-engaged Iran will begin to look different internally and will be seen differently externally.
Iran will face novel and difficult challenges as it re-connects but it will also have unusual strengths to muster. This presentation will consider what shape Iran’s international commercial and financial interactions might take in the near and medium term, and what impact these might have on Iran and on its counterparts.
About the Speakers
Hooman Sabeti is an international capital market expert and advisor based in Singapore. He was a partner of the law firm of Allen & Overy, working in Singapore, London and New York, where he advised various governments, global banks and large corporations on a range of cross-border financings in Asia, Europe and the US. He later served as general counsel of International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation, a supranational institution formed by twelve central banks to create and issue novel short-term securities. Most recently, he established Parthian Capital Market & Investment Advisors, a regulated securities firm in Tehran with a cross-border focus, advising domestic public institutions and private sector clients, as well as in-bound international players, on investment and fundraising. He periodically teaches law and capital markets at universities in Tehran and Singapore.
