Iran’s top diplomat said Washington needs to act fast to return to the nuclear accord, pointing out that legislation passed by parliament obligates the government to harden its nuclear stance if US sanctions are not eased by Feb. 21.
Iran’s top diplomat said Washington needs to act fast to return to the nuclear accord, pointing out that legislation passed by parliament obligates the government to harden its nuclear stance if US sanctions are not eased by Feb. 21.
A senior Iranian diplomat said on Saturday a new US stand on the Yemen war can be a “step toward correcting past mistakes,” after US President Joe Biden said this week Washington was ending its support for a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced that Iran’s vaccination campaign is to start on Tuesday and intensive care staff are the top priority to receive the shot.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday reiterated Iran’s call for complete sanctions removal as a prerequisite for its return to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The second phase of a project to transfer water from the Persian Gulf to Kerman Province will be launched later this month and by the end of 2021 seawater is planned to reach Yazd, Isfahan, South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi provinces, the minister of industries, mining and trade said.
In the first phase, which came on stream last November, 330 kilometers of pipelines were laid to carry 180 million cubic meters of desalinated water from Bandar Abbas Desalination Plant in southern Hormozgan Province to Gol-Gohar Mining and Industrial Complex in Sirjan County, Kerman, a year.
“The second phase will transfer water to the giant Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine in Rafsanjan County via a 150-km pipeline and then to copper mines in Shahr-e-Babak County through a 75-km pipeline,” ISNA quoted Alireza Razm-Hosseini as saying.
Each year 6 billion cubic meters of water is withdrawn from the drought-stricken province’s aquifers, of which 95%, 2% and 3% are respectively used for farming, industries and households.
Petrochemical production will reach 100 million tons a year, worth $25 billion, by 2022, the oil minister told the 14th Iran Plast International Exhibition on Sunday.
If projects proceed as planned total revenue from this sector would rise to $33 billion with output capacity near 133 million tons a year, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said, IRNA reported.
“Since the beginning of the current year (last March), 11 petrochemical projects have come online and 15 more will be launched by 2022,” Zanganeh said
Studies carried out by the Iranian National Standards Organization on gasoline quality in 2020 indicates the fuel contained “acceptable levels” of sulfur and other chemicals, head of INSO said.
The Education and Human Resources Institute, affiliated with the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, is scheduled to hold a webinar on investment and four courses on legal cases, international business transportation, imports and exports.
Mazandaran Province’s agriculture sector received a total of 30 trillion rials ($125 million) in bank loans during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2020-Jan. 19), according to an executive with the Agriculture Bank of Iran, also known as Agribank.
“These facilities were granted to 59,342 farmers and orchard and business owners in the province for agro mechanization, greenhouse cultivation and trade expansion,” Mohammad Taqi Qezelsofla was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that all agriculture-related sectors active in the province, namely agronomical and horticultural activities, livestock and poultry production, fisheries and food industries, have received bank facilities during the period under review.
The ban on bleach (sodium hypochlorite) exports has been lifted and businesspeople complying with the regulations of bleach trade can export their products, says the spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Iran and Turkey traded $3.43 billion worth of goods in 2020 to register a decline of 45.82% compared with 2019.
According to the latest data of Turkish Statistical Institute, Iran exported $1.19 billion worth of goods to the neighboring country last year to register a 66.9% year-on-year decline.
Imports from Turkey stood at $2.245 billion, down 17.97% YOY.
Turkey’s total value of exports in 2020 stood at $169.48 billion, down 6.3%. The country’s imports amounted to $219.39 billion, up 4.3% compared with 2019, IRNA reported.
Despite the decline in yearly trade, mostly as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, bilateral exchanges in December stood at $502.6 million, marking a 35% YOY growth.
Iran’s exports to Turkey accounted for $185 million of the figure, up 49% YOY, while Turkey’s exports to Iran stood at $317.1 million, up 28.9% YOY.
Monthly trade between Iran and Turkey fell to under $300 million in September, mostly due to a fall in Iran's exports to the neighboring country. However, the figure made a significant jump in December, raising hopes of recovering from the impact of Covid-19 on trade between the two countries.
The Producer Price Index for the “agronomy, horticulture and traditional husbandry” group in the four-quarter period to Dec. 20, which marks the end of the third quarter of the current Iranian year, increased by 19.6% compared with the year before.
Iranian airlines have purchased eight secondhand passenger planes, says the head of Civil Aviation Organization of Iran.
“Eight airplanes have been imported into the country, but they have not received the operational permit from CAO yet ... These planes have been manufactured by western planemakers in 2004-05,” Touraj Dehqani Zanganeh was also quoted as saying by Airlinepress.ir.
The official noted that 16 more used airplanes will be imported by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20).
Zanganeh noted that private airliners have purchased these airplanes, without providing further details. He also referred to Iran’s deal with Boeing, ATR and Airbus following Iran’s nuclear agreement, saying any change in the current conditions is likely to help the aviation industry renew its aged fleet.
The overall Purchasing Managers’ Index, known by its Farsi acronym Shamekh, for Iran’s economy settled at 48.83 in the month ending Jan. 19 from 47.77 in the month ending Dec. 20, 2020, indicating 1.06-point or 2.22% improvement.
Data released by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, the sponsor and coordinator of the survey, show the index has been on the rise for three consecutive months since the Iranian month ending Oct. 21 when it hit a six-month low of 44.47.
The headline PMI is a number from 0 to 100, such that over 50 shows an economic expansion compared with the previous month. A PMI reading under 50 indicates contraction and a reading of 50 implies no change.
Bucking a four-day declining trend, Tehran's share market made a promising comeback on Sunday, as investor sentiment was buoyed by the regulator's new measures to boost the struggling market.
The main gauge of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, gained 35,187 points to climb 3.1%, closing the session at 1,170,532.
Price spike in most of large caps pushed up the market cap-weighted TEDPIX as also shown by a whopping 4.4% growth in TSE-30 Index, which tracks the performance of top 30 TSE-listed companies in terms of market cap.
The equal-weighted index gained by a meager 1.2%, as a number of small caps were still under sell-side pressure.
Shaparak, Iran’s payment settlement network, processed 2.79 billion transactions worth 4,562.46 trillion rials ($19.01 billion) in the month ending Jan. 19.
Compared to the month before, the transactions registered a 3.96% and 8.87% rise in volume and value, respectively, according to the monthly report published on Shaparak’s website.
The transaction value rose 62.15% compared with the same period of last year when 2.20 billion transactions worth 2,813.72 trillion rials ($11.72 billion) were processed. In terms of volume, it showed a 26.69% growth on a year-on-year basis.
Iran’s Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology is planning to launch innovation houses in all provinces in collaboration with private investors to promote the startup ecosystem.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Parviz Karami, an official with the vice presidential office, said the innovation houses will support entrepreneurs whose businesses are not classified as knowledge-based, IRNA reported.
“Many startups are innovation-based but their business does not require high technology and their final product is also simple compared to specialized knowledge-based companies. These innovative teams and startups don’t receive adequate state support. The initiative aims to cover the gap and financially back such startups,” Karami said.
Out of over 6,000 tech units active in the country, 1,096 are innovative teams working on e-commerce, audiovisual industries, tourism, entertainment, design, architecture and herbal medicine, he added.
The innovative houses are mandated to provide mentorship, investment and consultation to entrepreneurs for boosting their activities.
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