Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke in parliament on Sunday to elaborate on the ministry's diplomatic efforts to boost the country’s economic ties with the world.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke in parliament on Sunday to elaborate on the ministry's diplomatic efforts to boost the country’s economic ties with the world.
An agreement with America is not possible, as long as dialogue with the US government is considered an "ideological defeat" and neither side is ready to offer concessions, a political analyst says.
"Some in Iran regard talks with the United States as a compromise as well as an ideological retreat and defeat. As long as this view persists, a win-win negotiation is not possible," Mehdi Motahharnia, a university professor, told ISNA in a recent interview.
Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah in 1979.
It is essential for Iran to expand relations with neighboring Afghanistan due to its enormous trade potential that can help bolster the country's economy, an Iranian diplomat said.
Completion of Tajikistan's Anzob Tunnel next year with the help of Iran’s private companies can help consolidate two-way relations.
Sohrab Mirzazadeh, Tajikistan's deputy minister of transport made the statement Sunday in Tehran on the sidelines of a meeting with officials of the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa), ILNA reported.
Expressing the hope that the project can be completed in 2020, he said, "Joint ventures can help pave the way for building closer economic ties."
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Sunday Iran will use every possible method to sell its oil, adding that it is the country’s legitimate right.
“We will use every possible way to export our oil and will not surrender to American pressure. Exporting oil is Iran’s legal right,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry's news portal.
Tehran wants normal ties with all the countries in the Middle East, Zanganeh said, adding that China’s national petroleum company had pulled out of developing Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Iran will host the 2021 meeting of Economic Cooperation Organization’s tourism ministers.
The decision was made during the third edition of the meeting held in Tajikistan’s city of Khujand from October 3-4.
Attended by Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ali Asghar Mounesan, Iran’s proposal for introducing ECO cultural capitals was ratified and the cities of Sari in the north and Ardabil in the northwest of Iran were named ECO cultural capitals for 2022 and 2023 respectively at the meeting, CHTN.ir reported.
Mounesan met with Tajikistan's Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Muhridin upon his arrival in Dushanbe where the two sides surveyed ways of expanding bilateral cooperation in different fields, tourism in particular.
ECO is a Eurasian economic intergovernmental organization founded in 1984 in Tehran by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan later joined the economic bloc.
Iran exported agricultural products worth $5 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22), around 50% of which, amounting over $2.5 billion, pertained to orchard crops.
“Iran produces more than 23 million tons of horticultural products on over 2.8 million hectares of orchards every year,” Mohammad Ali Tahmasebi, deputy agriculture minister for horticultural affairs, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Saturday.
Exports of orchard crops are estimated to experience an upsurge this year, he added.
Iran experienced abundant rainfall at the beginning of the current year, because of which agricultural officials are expecting higher crop yields.
The country ranks among top 10 producers of many horticultural products, including but not limited to pistachios, dates, apples, cherries, pomegranates and grapes, in the world.
A total of 111,818 tons of tea leaves have been purchased by the government from local farmers at 3.09 trillion rials ($26.98 million) in the first half of the current fiscal year (started March 21), according to the head of Iran Tea Organization.
“Over 25,158 tons of processed tea were derived from this amount of purchases, showing a 5% rise compared with the similar period of last year,” Habibollah Jahansaz was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Tea is currently experiencing its third and last harvest of the year.
The product undergoes three harvests a year: the spring harvest that starts in late April, the second in summer begins early June and the last in autumn starts late September.
Iran's overall non-oil foreign trade (except crude oil, mazut, kerosene and exports via suitcase trade) during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22) stood at $ 2.16 billion, indicating a 8.07% decline compared with same period of last year, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration reported.
Exports stood at 70 million tons worth $20.94 billion to register a 22.5% growth in weight but a 10.55% year-on-year decrease in value compared with the same period of last year.
Imports reached 16.56 million tons worth $21.22 billion, indicating an increase of 0.41% in weight and a decline of 5.51% in value year-on-year.
As trade deficit of around $280 million was registered in H1.
China, Iraq, Turkey, the UAE and Afghanistan were Iran’s main export destinations over the period.
It’s business as usual when it comes to money transfer for the import of essential goods, as processing of transactions and shipments into Iranian ports has not changed since a year ago, the head of Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran said.
Mohammad Rastad made the statement in response to a Reuters’ October 2 report that claimed more than 20 ships carrying around 1 million tons of grain were held up at Iranian ports due to payment problems created by the new round of US sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran, ILNA reported.
“Over 100,000 tons of essential goods are being discharged at Iranian ports daily and 13 docks are exclusively reserved for vessels handling essential goods,” he said.
Noting that at present, 24 ships are waiting at Imam Khomeini Port for unloading, six of which have signaled readiness to enter the port, the official said, “The queue of ships has been formed because of the rising volume of imports.”
Echoing similar remarks, Director General of Khuzestan Ports and Maritime Organization Adel Deris said, "The ships are invited to go to other ports, including Chabahar and Shahid Rajee, due to the large volume of loading in the Bandar Imam Khomeini port. We have no difficulties with unloading ships over the US sanctions.
Iran Chamber of Cooperatives will soon start publishing monthly reports on Purchasing Managers’ Index, under the Farsi acronym "Shamekh", related to Iran’s housing sector, an official with ICC said.
“The first such report will provide information about current conditions of housing business for the Iranian month ending Oct. 22,” Ali Moti-Jahani was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
PMI is an indicator of economic health for manufacturing and services sectors. The purpose of PMI is to provide information about current business conditions to company decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.
Iran’s banking sector, for a variety of reasons, has failed to keep up with the rapid pace of technological advancement in most countries since early 2000. However, lenders have resorted to some new approaches towards banking and financial technologies in their quest for not being left too far behind. But much more needs to be done.
Experts and financiers normally ask: What aspects of financial technologies need to be prioritized by bankers in the short term?
Way2Pay, a local media focused on payment and e-banking sectors, has recently talked to well-known experts asking their opinion about the foremost technological needs of the lethargic banking system. The responses include a wide range of technological innovations; however, open banking, RegTech, and intelligent solutions were the areas experts believe that must be addressed sooner rather than later.
Tehran stocks took a drubbing on Sunday as investors rushed to sell in order to save gains amid the prospect of a prolonged bear market.
The main gauge of Tehran Stock Exchange dropped more than 7,000 points for day to 320,211, sending TEDIX 2.1% lower.
Selloff pressure for stocks of Bank Mellat in the early hours of trading bode ill for investors long waiting for a market correction.
The lender has led top-performing companies in the stock market since its symbol ticker reopened on Wednesday.
There was a massive sell-off in 72 symbol tickers a quarter to closing trading session at 12:30 p.m. local time, according to Donyaye Bourse website.
With US sanctions on the oil industry taking a toll on the economy, including the national budget, the government has again pledged to reduce dependency on oil exports to zero and prepare the next budget (March 2020-21) without oil revenues.
The Persian-language economic newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad, a sister publication of the Financial Tribune, has looked into the future prospects of the stock market in light of “budget without oil” plan.
To partially compensate for falling oil revenues, the government plans to remove tax exemption on raw material exports and low value added products, divest its surplus property, redefine the price of energy carriers and reform the costly and controversial subsidy regime.
The head of Plan and Budget Organization Mohammad Baqer Nobakht has said that current expenditures from oil revenues will be cut to zero in the next budget, reiterating the government goal to diversify sources of income in the next budget.
The glut of shopping malls across some districts of the Iranian capital city over the past few years has practically ended in deadlock for retailers, such that even food courts and movie theaters fail to spur sale.
Consequently, rents are at a rock-bottom level and owners of commercial properties have to lower expectations to attract tenants.
According to Hossein Abdoh-Tabrizi, an economic expert of the housing sector, these conditions are indicative of the ridiculously high price-to-rent ratio in shopping malls, stemming from a so-called "earning mirage" and the high rate of commercial real-estate projects over the past years, the Persian-language Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.
“Worse than that is the resistance on the part of developers to consider the price-to-earnings ratio before getting into the business of commercial real-estate development,” he added.
Abdoh-Tabrizi believes that for the P/E ratio to decline, prices of commercial properties need to decrease, otherwise more tenants will move out as new shopping malls open.
Tapping the capabilities of tech firms and knowledge-based companies in Iran is gaining momentum in various fields, including industrial production, urban development, road construction and weather forecast.
The Interior Ministry has started the construction of waste treatment plants in the northern province of Mazandaran, calling on knowledge-based firms and startups to help bolster the work.
Speaking to IRNA, the province's governor general, Ahmad Hossein-Zadegan, said that in line with the government's policies to boost waste management in the Iranian northern provinces, the ministry is establishing regional stations for converting waste to raw materials and energy.
“When completed, a major part of the work will preferably be assigned to local tech firms and startups,” Hossein-Zadegan said.
ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi and directors of Iran’s space program kick-started a weeklong event that coincides with World Space Week.
In a series of events, starting with the Saturday gathering in Tehran, Iranian authorities will highlight the latest developments in the country’s space program and provide local tech firms active in the sector with a platform to showcase their services.
Addressing the gathering, Jahromi quoted a dialogue from the American movie “Interstellar” calling on participants to think big and set their sights on the space horizons.
The futuristic movie pictures a time when dust storms and other calamities are torturing the earth. That is when Joseph Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, a former NASA pilot, and his team are sent to another galaxy in search of a habitable planet through a wormhole.
The earth sinks in some plains in Tehran Province by about 0.5 to 1 millimeter every day, and conditions are more critical in Shahriar and Varamin counties in southwest and south Tehran, managing director of Tehran Regional Water Company said.
“An annual 31 centimeters of land subsidence is reported in Tehran Province. Over three billion cubic meters of water is extracted from groundwater sources in the capital every year,” ILNA quoted Hassan Razavi as saying.
Land subsidence is defined by scientific references as a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the earth's surface owing to subsurface movement of earth materials.
Principal causes are aquifer-system compaction, drainage of organic soils, underground mining, hydrocompaction, gas and oil extraction as well as earthquake.
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