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Mousavi said that Iran and Czech are to study the expansion of banking cooperation, investment opportunity, industry, mines, commerce, health and treatment in the upcoming meeting of the Iran-Czech joint economic cooperation commission.

He also called for the expansion of mutual economic cooperation, bolstering cooperation between the two sides’ private sectors, mainly in industry, and rendering services.

The two sides are to examine various issues ranging from banking to investment opportunities and easing visa issuance between the two countries, he said.

The Czech deputy minister of industry and trade in charge of the section of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Construction, Eduard Muřický, for his part, highlighted good political and economic relations and cooperation between the two countries and called for the further expansion of cooperation in these fields.

There are many companies mainly in the energy sector who mind to broaden cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Muřický said.

In April 2018, The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic supported a plan to lift a ban on the export of equipment to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran.

The decision by the Czech Parliament came after the online Czech newspaper ‘Prague Daily Monitor’ wrote that continuation of the ban on the transfer of equipment to Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant would prevent normalization of relations between Tehran and Prague, which is detrimental to Czech exports.

The Czech Communist Party had tried since 2009 to have the 18-year-long ban on the export of equipment to Iran lifted. In 2016, the Communist Party tried again to get the ban removed.

The Czech company ZVVZ Milevsko planned to deliver ventilation equipment to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and for this reason the Communist Party had proposed that all restrictions and obstacles facing the company be removed.

The issue was raised at a Czech cabinet session in March 2018 but the Prague government adopted a neutralized stance. Some persons and groups believe that the reason for this is that the Czech government is afraid of harming its relations with some of its allies, including the US, if it agrees to lift the ban.

However, it seems that the Czech Chamber of Deputies decided to follow the country’s foreign policy principles independent of the US.

The former coalition government of the Czech Republic tried to lift the ban in 2017, but Parliament blocked its move. The Czech Foreign Ministry supports the plan to lift the restrictions on the export of equipment to the Bushehr power plant.

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South Korea in April imported 1.45 million tons of crude oil from Iran, or 353,223 barrels per day (bpd), compared to 1.24 million tons a year earlier, according to customs data, reported Reuters.

For the January-April period, the country’s imports of Iranian crude dropped by 17.4 percent to 3.87 million tons, or 235,533 bpd, versus nearly 4.7 million tons in the same period last year, the data showed.

South Korea was granted a six-month waiver from the United States in November to buy oil from Iran, mostly condensate, or an ultra-light form of crude oil.

However, Washington said in April that it would not renew any exemptions for sanctions on Iran, stepping up pressure on Tehran.

In the wake of that step, South Korean petrochemical makers are expected to scour the world to replace Iranian condensate.

South Korea’s overall April crude oil imports were 12.76 million tons, or 3.1 mbd, up 10.2 percent from 11.58 million tons a year earlier.

In a sign that South Korea has been diversifying its import sources, imports from the United States grew fivefold to 1.45 million tons in April, or 353,006 bpd, from 268,511 tons a year earlier.

In the first four months of the year, the country’s crude oil imports increased by 3.4 percent to 49.91 million tons.

The nation’s final crude oil imports data will be released later this month from state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC).

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