According to a report made by the public relations of the National Development Fund of Iran, Mr. Mahdi Ghazanfari, CEO of the National Development Fund of Iran, announced the entrance of the National Development Fund of Iran into the field of emergent phenomena in the closing of the 10th Annual Conference on Resistance Economy, as well as mentioning the cash flow pertaining to the past 10 years of the Fund and proposing plans and ideas in regard to petroleum.
According to Ghazanfari, examining the account of incomings and outgoings of the National Development Fund of Iran, pertaining to years 2010-2023, indicates the fact that in some of the years the financial flow managed by the Fund exceeds 20 billion dollars, which is significant. During the mentioned period, the incomings of the Fund totals approximately 160 billion dollars and the outgoings 132 billion dollars. During this approximate 12-year period, the National Development Fund of Iran has managed about 292 billion dollars of cash flow in the economy of Iran. Therefore, the Fund acts as a currency arbiter and shall coordinate its policies with the Central Bank of Iran.
Participation of the National Development Fund of Iran in Upstream Petroleum
“We intend to begin a financial flow in Iran’s economy through the National Development Fund of Iran, which constitutes making investments in upstream petroleum and increasing the country’s oil and gas production and hope the necessary arrangements between the departments involved in this matter is made correctly and swiftly. We believe increased productivity in the upstream of the oil and gas industry is a strategic measure taken in the direction of national interests, hence befitting the National Development Fund of Iran to invest in this field particularly,” added the CEO of the National Development Fund of Iran whilst expressing gratitude to the government and the Islamic Consultative Assembly with regard to the efforts made toward returning foreign exchange reserves.
Mahdi Ghazanfari expressed his hope that the Expediency Discernment Council does not refuse the Article 3 of the Seventh Development Plan which allows the Fund to help the upstream petroleum as an economic entity for the country’s economy. “I’ve heard there are objections,” he continued “The Fund is an economic entity willing to invest some of its resources in new and shared oilfields so that the neighboring countries do not deplete these reserves, but a few people make objections based on the argument that the Fund wishes to replace the National Iranian Oil Company.”
Whilst distinguishing investment from firm ownership, Ghazanfari said: “We have numerously stressed the fact that firm ownership is poison to the National Development Fund of Iran and that our intention is to increase investment in the country’s economy, therefore in reality our efforts are made towards entrepreneurship not firm ownership. In general, we intend to invest about 60 to 70 percent of the Fund’s resources in the field of oil and gas, 20 percent in mining, and 10 to 20 percent in other fields. None of the 85 million people of Iran would tolerate delay in extraction from shared oilfields and expect this issue to be resolved. Now that an economic entity has declared its readiness to invest in upstream petroleum a group of people make objections. People can be the judge of it.”
“We can add one million barrels to the country’s production and direct funds toward this end without recourse to firm ownership,” reiterated the CEO of the National Development Fund of Iran.
Efforts to Invest in Artificial Intelligence Operator 2.5
“In recent years, sovereign wealth funds have shifted their interest toward investment in emerging technologies, and the National Development Fund of Iran should not fall behind the process. In doing so, we do not aim for firm ownership, nor do we intend to foray into microeconomics and will strictly remain an economic entity. Many sovereign and national wealth funds in the Persian Gulf region have specially entered the field of emerging technologies and are world-leading in some fields. We expect to invest in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence as of 2024, after making the arrangements and conducting the necessary studies,” added the CEO of the National Development Fund of Iran as his closing remark. According to Ghazanfari, sovereign wealth funds have directed their resources toward technology; the reasons for which are rapid growth potential, quick return of capital, and interest in diversified investment portfolio. In the end, the CEO of the National Development Fund of Iran announced investment of 2.5 trillion tomans in artificial intelligence of the country and remarked that we will be very active in this field in 2024.