Economic Diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran within the Framework of Development Plans: Recognition of the Shortcomings of 4th to 6th Development Plans

The economic diplomacy refers to the formal diplomatic measures which support the economic interests of states internationally. The emphasis of these measures is on the amplification of exports, absorption of foreign investments, and participation in the international economic organizations. They actually link power and welfare. Diverse governmental and nongovernmental actors work in this field whose scope of action is determined by different laws; the development plans are among the most important ones. The main question of this article is to recognize the shortcomings of 4th, 5th, and 6th of the Development Programme regarding the economic diplomacy. In search for the answers, this hypothesis shall be evaluated that the most significant structural weak points of these plans regarding economic diplomacy are; lack of practicable and precise definitions, lack of specification of the duties of the major acting institutions of economic diplomacy such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lack of emphasis on the détente policy and interaction with the world economy lack of institutionalization of its requirements, and absence of constructing a set of attached arrangements for economic, commercial and corporative diplomacy. This research suggests that various obstacles for absorption of foreign investment exist in Iran, such as the lack of coordination between different governmental and nongovernmental institutions. Furthermore, the lack of adequate and appropriate performance bonds in the texts of the development plan laws has been a general and problematic issue. The descriptive-analytical research method is used in this article and its required data and facts are collected from scribal and online references. Other objectives of this research are to explain the reason of the insertion of economic diplomacy in the developmentprogrammes and to present some solutions aimed at improving the operations in these domains.