TEHRAN, Sept. 26--A senior Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance official said here on Sunday that the government owes some 230 trillion rials to the banks, stressing the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) are currently studying a high-profile report on the government's debts to state and private banks.
Seyyed Hamid Pour-Mohammadi, deputy minister of economic affairs and finance, told ISNA that the government owes 13 trillion rials to the CBI and nine trillion more to other banks.
He further noted that the MPO and the CBI will announce their final assessments of and viewpoints on the state liabilities to the banking system.
The official further said that the State Auditory Organization has assigned a special committee the task of working out 10 mechanisms for reimbursing the government's debts. "One of these mechanisms will be selected once the final report is issued," he said.
A senior CBI official said earlier this month that the special committee in charge of examining the government dues to the banking system would issue its final report within a month.
Akbar Komeijani, deputy CBI governor, told ISNA that the committee includes the deputy head of the Management and Planning Organization (MPO), the deputy minister of economic affairs and finance, the deputy CBI governor for economic affairs and the deputy to the first vice president.
"The committee is trying to shed light on various aspects (of the government debts to the CBI) and reexamine the overall value of debts," he said, stressing that the committee will report to the government on how to cope with its growing liabilities.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--The World Bank (WB) has reached an initial agreement with Iran on a $60-million loan for efforts to reduce road accidents in the country by 40 percent.
According to Fars news agency, the WB loan will be paid in the form of a project to lower casualties from road accidents across Iran.
The bank has announced that the initiative aims chiefly to boost Iranian government's ability to improve the safety of roads.
The project, according to WB, will also create a unified management system in road safety-related projects.
Minister of road and transportation said earlier this year the number of road accidents in Iran is 21 times higher than that in developed countries.
This speaks of pitiable state of the roads in the country, Ahmad Khorram said.
He told IRNA that in the developed countries for 10,000 vehicles there are 1.5 fatalities, compared to Iran where with the same number of vehicles a staggering 33 deaths are registered.
Khorram said that 5.3 million vehicles are plying the road in the country, which is far less than the number in the developed countries and therefore the density of automobiles is not a factor in the high number of accidents.
Road accidents claim 60 lives daily in Iran, official statistics suggest. Some 80 percent of the dead are between 20-30 years of age. The number of accidents is 400,000 annually, of which 96 percent occur on intra-city roads.
The average annual increase of accident-related fatalities is 15.1 percent. Over five million vehicles ply on the national roads and 850,000 automobiles are added to the figure annually.
Based on official figures, Iran ranks first in auto-related fatalities in the world, said Iran's Coroners Office in a bulletin.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--Iran has enough adversaries to discourage foreign investments in its projects and will not need further barriers from the Seventh Parliament to this effect, Minister of Industries and Mines Es'haq Jahangiri said here on Sunday.
The official told ISNA that attracting foreign investment is a must for the Islamic establishment, whose main concern, he said, is the ever-increasing unemployment rate.
"The parliament must use all legal channels to avoid making the investment environment further unsafe," he said in reference to the recent parliamentary ratification obliging the administration to seek the Majlis authorization before undertaking a joint project with a foreign party.
The minister said the constitutional watchdog Guardians Council is to decide whether the initiative would harm the job sector.
"I say with certainty that this initiative will damage employment and investment sectors," he said, stressing, however, that foreign investments must be attracted within the framework of the laws.
Iran's chief WTO negotiator said last week accession talks will get nowhere, if parliamentarians create further barriers to improving the country's foreign trade.
Esfandiar Ommidbakhsh, Iran's plenipotentiary representative to the World Trade Organization, told ISNA it remains to be seen how the lawmakers would react to efforts to encourage European and American firms to operate in Iran in the process of WTO entry.
"When national economy is not ready to open up to the regional and Islamic markets, how would they accept the presence of western companies in Iran," he said in clear reference to the recent parliamentary initiative.
"The goals set in the 20-Year Perspective will certainly fail to translate into reality, if the fourth development plan (2005-2010) faces such obstacles from the outset," he said.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--Artemia and Aquatic Animals Research Center (AAARC), which conducts studies on the biodiversity of Artemia and exploitation of natural resources of this brine shrimp species, will soon become a reference center for West Asia, head of Iranian Fisheries Research Organization (IFRO) announced on Sunday.
Sohrab Rezvani told ISNA that IFRO has seven affiliated centers including AAARC, which is located in the northwestern province of Orumieh. The center is being developed into a regional hub for Artemia-related research.
The center is the only one of its kind in Iran for conducting research in the field. It was established in 1999 by Nasser Agh of Orumieh University. "Over 600 highly qualified researchers are currently engaged in studies to improve freshwater fisheries, aquaculture and protection of the aquatic environment in the country," he said.
Turning to the invading fishes in the Caspian Sea, Rezvani said that the invasion of comb jellyfish (Mnemiopsis Leidyi) has upset Caspian Sea's ecosystem. Kilka (small Clupeidae) fish stocks have declined by 15,000 tons since 1999, he added.
"Talks are underway with Caspian Sea littoral states on introducing Beroe ovata, which feeds only on M. leidyi, into the Caspian Sea," Rezvani stated.
Invasion of M. leidyi from Black Sea to the Caspian has led to ecologic and biologic changes in the world's largest inland waterway.
Reproduction of B. ovata is not harmful to other species such as zooplanktons and phytoplanktons. Its introduction would be beneficial to the Caspian ecosystem.
On the future activities of the center, Rezvani noted that IFRO would continue to work on targets stipulated in the third and fourth five-year development plans.
"In line with this, 18 comprehensive projects are underway and the government has allocated 200 billion rials to the center", he concluded. Iranian Fisheries Research Center was established in 1990. It provides expert scientific and technical advice to the government on aquatic ecosystems and aquatics within the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--Secretary of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) Ahmad Mirmotahari has resigned some two months after being appointed to the prestigious post. According to ILNA, Mirmotahari submitted his resignation to the ICCIM Presiding Board.
ICCIM Chairman Alinaqi Khamoushi has also confirmed the news, stressing that the board is studying Mirmotahari's resignation.
The ICCIM authorities have reportedly refused to say why Mirmotahari resigned from his post.
Mirmotahari is also a former secretary general of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).
In a clear sign of rift within the ICCIM, Tehran Chamber of Commerce chairman welcomed last week the proposal to disallow the operations of state companies within Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) provided that the move does not make any discrimination.
Mohammad Reza Behzadian told Mehr news agency that Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines also supports free and fair elections to this effect. "If state companies are to withdraw, then all of the state officials who work in the ICCIM must also go," he said, adding that the chambers of commerce belong to all sections of economy and not just certain companies.
"It does not seem logical that giant firms such as Iran Khodro Auto Manufacturing Group and Iran Milk Industries Company pull out from and small private firms join the chamber," he said, stressing, however, that the Tehran chamber would not be against the initiative if all state managers leave ICCIM, without exception.

President Mohammad Khatami in the inauguration ceremony of the first phase of Bari Holiday Resort.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--The first phase of 'Bari Holiday Resort' became operational last week in a ceremony attended by President Mohammad Khatami.
The resort is located on the Salmas-Orumieh road and has been designed and built to provide tourists a chance to visit various natural attractions in all the four seasons of the year.
Bari Holiday Resort, which is named after the village of Bari, has been called a 'Health Village'.
Masood Motarjemi, director general of Bari Tourism Department said the first phase of the resort with includes diverse facilities to attract local and foreign tourists, is built on an area of 100 hectares at a cost of over Rls. 120b. It is located on the northwestern shore of Orumieh Lake, near the village of Bari in the vicinity of Qooshchi Township."
Pointing to the second phase of the project, he said it would become operational in 2006 in cooperation with the Management and Planning Organization (MPO), Iran's Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, as well as Bank-e Refah.
The construction of the first phase of the project was launched in 1998 by the then minister of culture and Islamic guidance Ata'ollah Mohajerani.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--Iran ranks 19th in the world terms of marine cargo transportation capacity, the head of the Ports and Shipping Organization said here on Sunday.
Ahmad Donya-Mali added that 90 percent of goods in the world are transported by sea, reported ILNA.
The official told the Seminar on World Maritime Day that the global marine fleet has 46,000 vessels and that the world will be short of 56,000 marine officers by 2010.
"International trade cannot do without maritime transportation industry," he declared, stressing that Iranian nationals account for some 84 percent of the officers and 93 percent of the sailors working on Iranian vessels.
The official said national marine industry will be short of 1,000 officers during the fourth development plan (2005-2010).
He added that the posts for three percent of the officers and four percent of the sailors are likely to become vacant due to resignations, retirement or deaths.
Donya-Mali further noted that 1.2 million people work in ports worldwide.
Every year International Maritime Organization celebrates World Maritime Day. Individual governments decide on the exact date but it is usually observed in the last week of September. On this day, the focus is on the importance of shipping safety and marine environment, emphasizing the particular aspect of IMO's duties.

TEHRAN, Sept. 26--Chairman of the House of Mines has said that mineral production will increase by 10 percent in the year to March to reach 250 million tons, shana.ir said.
Mir-Mohammad Sadeqi noted that prior to 2002, production from mines was below 150 million tons annually and this figure recorded a 25-30 percent growth per year. This year, production will increase by 10 percent to exceed 250 million tons, he noted.
"At present, privatization of the sector has progressed 40 percent as a result of the new interpretation of Article 44 of the Constitution," he pointed out.
The official said based on new definition of the article only oil and copper stocks were considered as major mines to be run by the government.
"Exploiting mines entails great risks. It needs a lot of money as well as advanced facilities and machinery," he noted.
Sadeqi noted that a recent Majlis ratification obliging the government to seek Majlis approval before concluding any foreign deals will only affect state-run mines and will have no bearing on contracts signed by private mining companies.