Iranian and Azeri officials met in Baku to explore avenues to bolster relations between the two neighboring states.
Iranian and Azeri officials met in Baku to explore avenues to bolster relations between the two neighboring states.
The commander of Iranian border police said new smart infrastructure is employed for maritime border protection, including advanced optical devices and drones.
Iran’s envoy to the United Nations said a fair distribution of Covid-19 vaccines among all countries and the removal of US sanctions are among important requisites for a successful battle against the deadly disease.
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Sisakht in southwestern Iran on Wednesday night, leaving at least 63 injured, causing power blackouts and flattening buildings.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated that in order for Iran to fully abide by the 2015 nuclear deal again, the United States must lift all sanctions unconditionally and effectively.
President Hassan Rouhani said the European Union, as an important international player, must help counteract the US unilateral policies and protect the landmark nuclear deal with Iran as a major fruit of multilateral diplomacy.
Seventy plus desalination plants that process 309,000 cubic meters of saline water a day opened in the past ten years and cost $250 million, the deputy energy minister for water and wastewater affairs said in Tehran.
“Of the 71 installations, 54 are in the coastal areas in the south, namely Hormozgan, Bushehr and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces. The rest were built in the northern regions including Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan in collaboration with the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa),” ILNA quoted Qasem Taqizadeh Khamesi as saying.
Abfa is completing 25 other desalination units that are in different stages of construction in southern areas. “Fourteen plants are expected to become operational by July costing $80 million. When completed 259,000 cubic meters of desalinated water will be added to Abfa’s capacity a day reaching 568,000 cm/d.”
Platinum-rhodium catalyst used to produce isocyanates in the petrochemical industry has been indigenized by Iranian knowledge-based companies and was unveiled at the second specialized exhibition and conference to support domestic manufactures in Kish Island in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, the managing director of Karoon Petrochemical Company said.
“The platinum-based catalyst is used to produce nitric acid and was imported from Russia, India and Germany with much difficulty due to the US economic blockade. It is now produced by domestic experts and engineers,” ILNA quoted Alireza Sediqizadeh as saying.
Iranian manufactures will provide equipment and parts including electro-compressors for the Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refinery, managing director of the refinery said.
“The refiner has signed seven MoUs with local companies worth $104 million,” Oil Ministry news portal Shana quoted Mahmoud Aminnejad as saying.
"One of the important agreements is the design and construction of 24 electric compressors," he said. Compressors provide gas pressure to transport gas via pipelines and lift oil in gas-lift operations.
Iranian aluminum producers had a total output of 364,783 tons of ingots during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 20-Jan. 19) to register an 85% rise compared with the corresponding period of last year.
According to the latest data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), flagship producer Iran Aluminum Company (IRALCO) accounted for the highest portion of total output with 155,577 tons, unchanged compared with the same period of the last year.
IRALCO is the top producer of aluminum in Iran. Inaugurated in 1972, the plant has an annual production capacity of 180,000 tons.
Iran exported $16.64 billion worth of non-oil commodities to its 15 neighboring counties during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2020-Jan. 19), more than $10.7 billion of which were shipped to Arab states, according to the director general of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran’s Arab and African Affairs Bureau.
“Topping the list of neighboring Arab countries was Iraq, to which Iran exported $6.3 billion worth of goods during the period. It was followed by the UAE with $3.7 billion, Oman with $323 million, Qatar with $134 million, Kuwait with $125 million and Bahrain with $6 million,” Farzad Piltan was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that Iraq, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain were Iran’s first, second, seventh, 10th, 12th and 14th biggest export destinations from among its 15 neighbors.
Despite US sanctions and the outbreak of coronavirus, carpet exports have increased by 14% in the current fiscal year (March 2020-21), Farahnaz Rafe’, the chairwoman of Iran National Carpet Center, said on Wednesday.
Noting that carpet production has registered a 114% growth this year, the official said offering concessional loans with a lending rate of 12% to carpet weavers is a priority.
“In collaboration with Qarz Al-Hasaneh Mehr Iran Bank, loans worth up to 300 million rials [$1,153] with an interest rate of 4% will be paid for the Complementary Health Insurance of carpet weavers. At present, a total of 261,000 carpet weavers are under the coverage of the Social Security Insurance Organization,” she was quoted as saying by IRNA.
A total of $50 million worth of hand-woven carpet were exported from Iran in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20), registering a 90% decline compared with the previous year.
Phase I of Iran’s largest logistics center and export terminal for agricultural products was inaugurated in the northern province of Mazandaran via videoconference by President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday.
“Romak Food Logistics Company’s construction started in the Iranian year ending March 2018 over 31 hectares in Jouybar, Mazandaran,” the head of the company, Khalil Qolizadeh, said.
“The marketing, export, creation and promotion of an Iranian brand in international markets, the removal of flaws in distribution system and the regulation of agricultural products market were the primary goals of launching the export terminal in northern Iran,” he added.
The terminal’s capacities include sorting, packaging and cardboard manufacturing, as well as freezing of meat products.
Authorized cryptocurrency miners in Iran have been allowed to resume operations after fuel supply to electricity power plants returned to normal, a spokesperson for Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said.
"Power plants are now receiving sufficient gas [as feedstock] and there is no problem in fuel supplies,” Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi was quoted as saying by ILNA.
After widespread power outages across the country in mid-January, Tavanir ordered licensed cryptocurrency mining farms to halt operations temporarily to reduce power shortages.
Economic sectors benefited from the capital market to the tune of 3,030 trillion rials ($12 billion) in the first ten months of the current fiscal year that ends in March.
This was more than double compared to the same period last year when funds worth 1,450 trillion rials ($5.8 billion) were made available.
Of the two main types of funding, namely equity financing and debt financing, data indicates a premium role for the former.
The Securities and Exchange Organization has called on listed companies to release without delay corporate data to the millions of retail investors in an orderly manner.
Head of the Iran-Switzerland Joint Chamber of Commerce says with a new government in the United States "sensitivities" toward the Iran-Switzerland financial channel has declined.
The trade channel, known as the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), was designed to facilitate food and medicine trade with Iran.
It started trial operations in January 2020, helping supply Swiss goods to Iran without violating Donald Trump’s economic blockade against Iran. However, in essence it was a non-starter seemingly due to the US sanctions.
While detailing government efforts for expansion of ICT infrastructure in rural areas, the minister of communications and information technologies said all villages in Zanjan Province will be connected to the internet by August.
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi added that 100 villages with over 20 households in Zanjan will be connected to the internet soon, IRIB reported.
“In a matter of weeks, all 712 villages will be connected to the internet. A total of 102,000 households are living in these villages,” he said.
During a trip to the province last week, the minister inaugurated 155 communication sites in rural areas to provide 15,000 residents and 250 schools with internet access. The sites were established with 1.34 billion rials ($5,150) of investment. The new connections increased the number of rural areas with internet access to 611.
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