Hassan Rouhani, president of Iran, has asked a group of western oil majors to detail the conditions under which they would return to the country, as Tehran tries to win back international business amid a thaw in sanctions.

The meeting took place last week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Mr Rouhani predicted his country had the potential to be one of the top 10 economies in the next three decades if sanctions were lifted and economic ties normalised.

In an upbeat speech to delegates, Mr Rouhani re- iterated that developing nuclear weapons ‘has no place in Iran’s security strategy’ and forecast that ties with Europe would be ‘normalised’ as the interim nuclear agreement is implemented.

Mr Rouhani told delegates he intended to remove ‘all political and economic impediments to growth’ in Iran and that one of his priorities was ‘constructive engagement’with the world, including through the use of its oil and gas reserves.

“Only through co-operation and engagement can we provide a better life for our people and make peace sustainable,” he said in what was the first speech by an Iranian president at Davos since 2004.

The president’s easy demeanour contrasted dramatically with that of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, and he was warmly received by a Davos audience eager for good news from the Middle East.

As part of his charm offensive to entice foreign companies back to Iran, the president said a new investment model for oil contracts would be ready by September.

Iranian officials have said that a workshop would be held in London in the summer to discuss how the contracts would work.

In his closed-door meeting with oil company representatives, including BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, Mr Rouhani and his oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, told executives to submit contracts they would like to see Iran adopt. US companies did not attend the meeting of the Oil and Gas Governors group, an industry association, but Khalid al-Falih, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of regional rival Saudi Arabia, was present as a member.

Iran is desperate to revive its oil industry and boost lucrative exports, after crude production slumped by 1m barrels a day to around 2.7 m b/d under the weight of international sanctions imposed against its nuclear programme in 2012.

Chinese state oil companies currently dominate attempts to raise production in Iran, but they were absent from the meeting, suggesting the emphasis was on bringing in fresh expertise.

Paolo Scaroni, the chief executive of ENI, said: “The very fact that the president of Iran chose to spend an hour with us shows how interested he is in attracting international oil companies into the country.”

Iran’s economy shrank more than five per cent in the past fiscal year as international sanctions imposed in response to the country’s nuclear programme took their toll.

Jack Lew, US Treasury secretary, told CNBC in Davos after the speech that sanctions had worked and got Tehran’s attention but that it had yet to hang an ‘open for business sign’.

Mr Rouhani said Iran has “never sought or seeks anything other than peaceful technology and will never accept any obstacles in its path”.

He added: “Nuclear weapons have no place in our security strategy and [Iran] has no motivation to move in that direction.”

Mr Rouhani said the breakthrough in recent international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme occurred when the west recognised that Tehran would ‘never give up its right to peaceful nuclear technology’.

“What we’ve achieved is not a temporary agreement but a prelude to future agreements,” he said, including improving relations with the US.But the president warned that success in the nuclear talks was not guaranteed. “A possible impediment may be a lack of serious will by the other party or parties or they might be influenced by others,” he said.

“We are ready,” he added. “Of course, this is a long and winding and difficult road.

“However, if we remain serious and keep the will, we can push through.”

Iranian analysts hope Mr Rouhani’s presence in Davos will help accelerate normalisation of Tehran’s political and economic ties with world powers. “The Davos meeting shows Iran has emerged from political isolation and deadlock thanks to its nuclear deal, and Rouhani in Davos has officially started Iran entering the next stage of talking with world economic powers,” said Mohammad- Sadegh Javadi-Hesar, a political analyst.

Additional reporting by Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran and John Aglionby in London