Canada is lifting some sanctions against Iran, including a ban on financial services, imports and exports, the federal government announced Friday.
“Canada welcomed the January 16, 2016, confirmation by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran had fulfilled all necessary commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” said a statement by Global Affairs Canada. “Canada has therefore amended its broad-reaching autonomous sanctions against Iran to allow for a controlled economic re-engagement.”
The easing of the sanctions will allow companies such as Canadian plane maker Bombardier to compete against European rival Airbus for Iran’s lucrative aviation market, which is in desperate need to upgrade its civil aviation fleet.
“It will allow all our companies to develop business with the very promising Iranian market, a country facing a fleet renewal of nearly 400 aircraft over the next 20 years, representing a market of nearly $20 billion,” Suzanne Benoît, President Aéro Montreal, a strategic think tank that groups all the major decision makers in Quebec’s aerospace sector.
Serious concerns remain
Canada still has serious concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions and will continue to maintain tight restrictions on exports to Iran of nuclear goods and technologies, as well as those that could assist in the development of Iran’s ballistic-missile program, the government said.
Ottawa would work to restore diplomatic relations with Iran gradually despite the government’s concerns over its “very questionable” human rights record and the threat it poses to regional allies such as Israel, said Foreign Affairs Minister Stephan Dion.
“Canada’s approach to re-engagement with Iran, as with any country of concern, will be based on efforts to foster dialogue, rather than on withdrawal and isolation,” Dion said.
The preceding Conservative government cut all diplomatic ties with Iran in September of 2012, when it closed down the Canadian embassy in Tehran and expelled all Iranian diplomats from Canada.
Tony Clement, the Conservatives’ foreign affairs spokesman, told Reuters news agency Ottawa should be extremely skeptical of Iran’s intentions.
“They still fire bomb embassies; they still engage in targeted assassinations,” he said in a phone interview. “They must be an actor for peace and non-violence, and they are not that way now.”
Canada’s exports to Iran peaked at $772 million in 1997. With the imposition of sanctions, this number declined to $67 million in 2014 comprising mostly food products exempt from sanctions, according to figures released by Global Affairs Canada.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.