Iran, S Korea ink water treatment deal

South Korea is about to help Iran on water supply and management and wastewater treatment under three memorandums of understanding signed in Tehran Sunday.

One document was signed between South Korean Deputy Minister of Environment Lee Min-ho and Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister Rahim Maydani and two others by National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran with South Korea’s K-Water and Daelim companies, IRNA reported.

“The Koreans have valuable experiences in the field of environmental technology and water and wastewater management. Hence, these MoUs were signed with the aim of transferring experiences, facilitating investment in Iran and manpower training,” Maydani said.      

Lee said his visit was a follow-up to South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s tour of Iran in May to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

“Developing water and wastewater systems is one of Iran’s priorities and we hope to help Iranian companies with further development of these technologies,” Lee said, according to IRNA.

Iran and South Korea signed a number of agreements in the fields of oil and gas, railroads, tourism, and technology when President Park visited Tehran with representatives of 236 companies and organizations.

President Hassan Rouhani said then the two sides had agreed to increase their bilateral trade from the current $6 billion per year to $18 billion in the coming years.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea has introduced a $15 billion financial package support for local businesses dealing with Iran. The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation also seeks to sign a deal worth 5 billion euros for export financing support with Iran, according to South Korean media reports.

SS