The aim of the research is to suggest policy implications and proposals to expand bilateral industrial cooperation between Korea and Iran focusing on the petrochemical and automobile sectors that occupy the largest share of the Iranian manufacturing industry.
  Chapter 2 touches upon the political and economic trends, international relations, and economic policies in Iran in order to understand the recent changes in both economic and political spheres of the country, analyzing Korea-Iran economic relations. Contrary to expectations for a rapid economic recovery after lifting the international sanctions against Iran in January 2016, foreign direct investment inflows to the country have continued to remain sluggish and the unemployment rate has remained high. A ban on Iranian access to U.S. dollar transactions as prescribed under the primary sanction and the worsening relationship between the U.S. and Iran after President Donald Trump came into office have become key factors which undermine investors’ confidence. On top of this, the stability of Iran’s macro-economic conditions is recently being threatened mainly by the high inflation rate and steady rial depreciation. Upon this backdrop, economic relations between Korea and Iran have greatly expanded, mainly in the trade and construction sectors.
  Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the policies, structure, characteristics of Iranian petrochemical and automotive industries. Iran’s NPC (National Petrochemical Company) performs the pivotal role of producing petrochemical products as well as regulating the petrochemical market. Iran’s petrochemical complexes are mainly being developed in special economic zones at Mahshahr and Assaluyeh with 58 petrochemical complexes under construction that are expected to produce 134.4 million tons of petrochemicals per annum. The Iranian government has designated the petrochemical sector as a strategic industry through its fifth and sixth 5-year development plans and is pushing for policies such as privatization, expansion of production facilities. The Iranian government also provides cheaper feedstock, tax exemption and deregulation on petrochemical companies in special zones in order to induce foreign direct investment in the petrochemical sector. After the economic sanctions against Iran were lifted, French and German companies showed strong commitment to invest in the Iranian petrochemical sector, reflecting high expectations for Tehran’s development policy and high growth potential. However, due to the uncertainty in international relations surrounding Iran and difficulties in financing, global companies’ willingness to invest in Iran has weakened.
  Following the lifting of sanctions against Iran, the largest auto-producing country in the Middle East, car production has been recovering since 2013. The Iranian government is actively moving to foster its automotive industry, focusing on inducing foreign direct investment and promoting transfer of technology with high tariffs on imported cars. Iran is trying to become an automobile manufacturer with advanced technological foundation rather than a CKD (completely knocked down) assembler. With the rise of Chinese companies and re-entry of French and other European firms in the Iranian auto market, competition in the market is expected to be intensified. In addition, there are interior and exterior risk factors such as the existence of the primary sanction imposed by the U.S., and the volatility of Iran’s regulatory policies.
  Chapter 5 presents specific cooperative projects by comprehensively assessing the industrial environment of the petrochemical and automotive sectors. Given the risks stemming from uncertainty in U.S.-Iran relations, bilateral cooperation should be approached strategically in division of the short-term and the long-term. This study presents specific measures focusing on collaborative projects that could be implemented in the short term. In the petrochemical sector, first of all, advisory service projects to transfer the production system of high-value-added petrochemicals could be explored. Second, Korean companies could be an operations and maintenance service provider in the Iranian petrochemical sector, participating in petrochemical plant construction projects initiated by Korean construction companies. Third, exchange program of engineers and experts in both countries’ petrochemical sectors could contribute mutual understanding of bilateral industrial cooperation and future joint ventures in the sector.   The projects could be carried out more effectively through high-level government cooperation between the two countries.
  In the automotive sector, it is necessary to focus on high-tech components and automotive software development rather than large-scale investment projects as cooperative projects that could be implemented in the short term. Given negative impacts that could be imposed on large scale projects due to uncertainty of U.S.-Iran relations, small and medium-sized enterprises could participate in those projects. Second, a technical advisory program utilizing retired but experienced Korean engineers could be considered as a tool for technology transfer. Such an exchange program could benefit both countries, as Korea can create jobs for retired engineers and Iran could improve its technological knowhow and cultivate skilled manpower. Third, considering the uncertainties in the Iranian market, an intergovernmental channel for enterprise support could be established to find solutions to corporate disputes in joint projects. Fourth, the Korean and Iranian governments could promote cooperation for transfer of Korea’s standardization systems to Iran that could be beneficial to bilateral cooperation in terms of technology transfer and job training. 

국문요약

제1장 머리말
1. 연구의 배경 및 목적
2. 연구의 범위 및 방법론
3. 연구의 구성 및 차별성

제2장 정치 및 경제 동향1
1. 국내 정치 및 국제관계
    가. 국내 정치동향
    나. 국제관계
2. 거시경제 동향 및 산업구조
    가. 거시경제 동향
    나. 주요 경제현안
    다. 산업구조
3. 주요 경제정책
    가. 저항경제
    나. 제6차 5개년 개발계획
4. 부문별 한·이란 경제협력 특징
    가. 교역
    나. 건설
    다. 투자

제3장 석유화학 부문
1. 개요 및 산업환경
    가. 개요
    나. 산업환경
2. 주요 산업정책 및 제도
    가. 주요 산업정책
    나. 주요 투자제도
    다. 주요 합작 대상 프로젝트
3. 외국기업 진출사례 및 시사점
    가. 외국기업 진출사례
    나. 시사점

제4장 자동차 부문
1. 개요 및 산업환경
    가. 개요
    나. 산업환경
2. 산업정책 및 제도
    가. 주요 산업정책
    나. 수입 제한 및 규제 강화
3. 외국기업 진출사례 및 시사점
    가. 외국기업 진출사례
    나. 시사점

제5장 부문별 산업협력 확대방안
1. 연구결과 요약 및 한·이란 산업협력 정책방향
2. 석유화학 부문 SWOT 분석 및 협력방안
    가. SWOT 분석 및 시사점
    나. 주요 협력방안
3. 자동차 부문 SWOT 분석 및 협력방안
    가. SWOT 분석 및 시사점
    나. 주요 협력방안

참고문헌

Executive Summary