Iran Sanctions Help China, Russia Companies

NEW YORK: The US-supported sanctions against Tehran may have the opposite of their intended effect, driving Iranian business further into hands of "aggressively mercantilist" Chinese and Russian firms in search of lucrative contracts once dominated by West, a media report warned today.

Noting that Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Siemens, Dresdner and HSBC have already backed out of Iran after President George W Bush's "charm offensive" in recent weeks in Europe, Newsweek said hundreds of Chinese and Russian companies are working in Iran and few are expected to leave soon.

In sectors like oil production, telecommunications, aerospace and automotives, the absence of Western mainstays is creating new opportunities for these emerging powers in one of the world's fastest-growing markets, the news magazine said, pointing out that half of Iran's population is under the age of 20 and it can be counted among the most strategic markets.

So far, oil production in the Middle East has been closed to China and Russia due to tough Western competition, it said.

"Take Russia's Tatneft, whose recent efforts to win larger oil- and gas-production contracts in Libya have been crushed by tech-savvy Western giants like Shell and Occidental. But in Iran, firms like Shell, Total and BP are now hesitant to move forward on new energy deals as geopolitical tension rises," Newsweek said.

---eoe---

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Iran_sanctions_help_China_Russia_cos/articleshow/2591121.cms