Iran and the Republic of Korea on Monday signed three agreements in the form of one memorandum of understanding (MOU) and two memorandums of agreement (MOA) during Iran-Korea Business Forum in Tehran.

Worth about $1.6 billion, one of the MOAs was inked between Korean steel maker POSCO and Iranian steelmaker Pars Kohan Diar Parsian Steel (PKP), to jointly build a steel mill in Iran's Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone.

The steel mill will be built based on POSCO’s FINEX technology, touted to be more environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient compared to other steelmaking methods.

Moreover, during the event, POSCO Energy, a POSCO's electricity-generating affiliate, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PKP to build a 500 megawatt power plant fed by excess gas generated by the envisioned steel mill, said the Korea Times.

Also, in cooperation with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), POSCO Energy will construct a desalination facility in the same area with a desalination capacity of 60,000 tons of seawater per day.

Another MOA was inked between the Korean Doosan Heavy Industry and Construction and the Iranian Negin Mokran Development Company (NMDC).

South Korean steel makers controlled more than half the Iranian market before the Western sanctions were imposed, according to POSCO’s research center, Reuters reported.

Participating in the seminar were Joo Hyung Hwan, Korean minister of trade, industry and energy; Kim Seung-ho, the South Korean ambassador to Tehran; Mohsen Jalalpour, president of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture; Valiollah Afkhami, head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran; and Junggwan KIM, vice president of Korea International Trade Association.

The forum was organized by Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), wherein 500 participants from 300 companies were present.

Iran and Britain signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of renewable energies.

The MoU was signed between the Renewable Energy Organization of Iran and Britain's Solar Energy Companies Consortium in London on Saturday.

On the basis of the MoU, the British consortium will supply electricity to Iran and some other regional countries by means of utilizing solar energy through sharing solar technology and providing financial assistance.

In a relevant development on Thursday, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian announced his country's readiness for investment by the UK firms.

"Iran is ready to accept investment by British companies in the field of water industry and management," Chitchian said in a meeting with a group of British industrialists and businessmen in London.

He said that Iran needs at least $12 billion of investment in its water and wastewater management sectors in the next five years.