TEHRAN, Dec. 31--Deputy Commerce Minister for international trade here on Friday rejected the ban on reexport from the Persian Gulf port of Dubai as a means to curb smuggling of consumer goods and boost economic activities in free trade zones.
According to ISNA, Mojtaba Khosrowtaj, who also heads Iran Trade Development Organization, described calls for halting reexport from Dubai as unwarranted as this will hurt the private sector.
He added that the country should capitalize on the potentials of Dubai market, which facilitate and provide economical trade opportunities to Iranian entrepreneurs. "A halt to reexport ties with Dubai is uneconomical and will increase the costs of our purchases," the official explained.
Khosrowtaj noted that proper policies should be taken to lower costs and ease financial burden of trade.
Obviously, despite the extensive pressure on businesspersons, Khosrowtaj elaborated, exporters prefer to purchase inexpensive goods from cheaper sources. Iran's trade with UAE suffers from mismanagement, he stressed.
Iran Trade Development chief put the number of Iranian companies active in Dubai at 2,000, adding that unofficial statistics indicate that over 4,500 Iranian firms have invested in this Persian Gulf port.
Asked about why wealthy Iranian businesspersons are unwilling to invest in domestic market, he put the blame on US and European companies active in banking and transportation services.
"During the post-revolution era, the US and European firms have supported the United Arab Emirate as a new trade hub to rival Iran."
Iranian nationals have contributed to some 45 percent of fixed investments in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in recent years.
Latest figures released by Dubai authorities suggest that the tiny Persian Gulf port recorded a 28.5-percent growth in international transactions this year, when it earned $25 billion.
UAE has reportedly managed to earn millions of dollars from Iran's lethargic presence in regional and international trade.
The Persian Gulf state reexports a considerable amount of Iranian goods as well as imports of most foreign products available on Iranian markets.
In recent years, Dubai has turned into the main venue for the reexport of Chinese goods to regional countries, particularly Iran.

TEHRAN, Dec. 31--The government has announced its readiness to cede the shares of banking, insurance and steel sectors as per an approval of the State Expediency Council.
Deputy Economy Minster of legal and parliamentary affairs Heidar Mostakdemin Hosseini further told ISNA on Friday that the cabinet has been working on an action plan to facilitate the transfer of shares and will go ahead with the plan soon as it is officially notified of the new SEC ratification.
The State Expediency Council last month overturned a key article of the Constitution to allow large-scale privatization in a bid to overhaul the country's sluggish economy.
The official disclosed that shares of more state-owned companies will, in the coming days, be up for sale to the private sector by the
Privatization Organization.
Iran's privatization drive is modeled after Germany's experience following reunification.
To this end, reorganizing state-owned companies and setting up holding companies in the Third Five-Year Development Plan (March 2000-2005) are the important tasks of the privatization policy.
The government says it wants to keep at least 35 percent of the shares of banks which are to be privatized, so that the state can exert its control in the sector.
Analysts say Iran's inefficient state-owned banking system is a bottleneck for the national economy.

TEHRAN, Dec. 31--A new chapter will open in Iran-Europe trade relations with the launching of a shipping line between Bandar Imam Khomeini in southern Iran and several European countries.
Port's operations are expected to begin sometime in the spring.
Announcing this, Managing Director of Khuzestan Ports and Shipping Department Jalil Eslami further said the bulk of activities will focus on the transport of containerized commodities, reported ILNA on Friday.
He said the port provides one of the most economical marine route linking the two continents.
The plan authorizes Iran Ports and Shipping Organization to transform Bandar Imam Khomeini into a container terminal for a period of ten years. According to official sources, from among the commercial ports in Iran, Bandar Imam Khomeini alone handles almost half of the trade in non-oil commodities.
The port, established with two berths in 1940, now operates more than 40 active berths with a length of seven kilometers, rendering services to hundreds of ocean liners each year.
Authorities say the port is equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated equipment and systems and is also capable of providing services to cargo and ship owners. One of the unique advantages of this port is the existence of 100 kilometer of railway within the port which links the berths, warehouses and transit sheds, facilitating easy transport from the ships to major commercial and industrial centers throughout the country as well as to neighboring states.

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 31--Iran's largest lender, Bank Mellat, officially filed an application on Friday to open a subsidiary in South Korea, the country's top financial watchdog said.
"Iran's Bank Mellat has submitted an application to the financial authority to change its current Seoul branch into a wholly-owned banking subsidiary," the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said in a statement.
According to Yahoo News, the official application came after the Iranian bank, also the world's 419th largest lender by assets, was found in early December to have been pursuing opening a subsidiary in South Korea, the first time for a foreign lender to set up such a subsidiary in the country.
Initially called Mellat International Bank, the unit will operate with 104 billion won (US$100 million) in paid-in capital and bolster economic cooperation between South Korea and Iran, the FSC said in the statement. It usually takes two months for the country's financial watchdog to give final approval, analysts said.
Bank Mellat opened a branch office in South Korea in June 2001 that has 25 staff and handles trade finance. It also operates eight overseas branches in the United States, Turkey and other countries.

TEHRAN, Dec. 31--Iran's transport fleet will have to undergo major overhauling to meet Euro-2004 and -2005 standards, said Secretary of the Association of Iran International Transport Companies Javad Semsari-Lor on Friday.
He told ILNA that for example, trucks need to be equipped with a separate fuel tanks and a parallel injection gas-fueled system.
"In addition, the country needs more gas stations," he said, noting that all this requires efforts to rebuilt and improve the infrastructures, which is unlikely to happen in the near future given the existing shortcomings in the sector.
Semsari-Lor said once Euro-2004 and Euro-2005 standards are implemented throughout Europe, Iran's transport fleet will sustain heavy losses due to restrictions in its transportation routes.
"Also they will endure extra costs such as higher taxes which would in turn increase transportation costs and lowering their competitiveness."
At present, he said, neither light not heavy vehicles in Iran are equipped with such standards.

TSE has been one of the region's best performers in recent years, with the index doubling in 2003.

LONDON, Dec. 31--Stocks traded at the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) continued their growth in 2004, rising by 30 percent, according to an end-of-year review carried out by Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), IRNA said.
The London-based weekly predicted that the all-share Tepix index, which climbed to 13,612.2 points on December 22, was likely to continue to grow next year.
The TSE has been one of the region's best performers in recent years, with the index doubling in 2003. MEED suggested that the slowdown to 30 percent was bittersweet news for many investors, saying 'instant profits were lower, but fears of a bubble have dissipated'.
The financial sector was regarded as being the most instrumental in maintaining market stability at the TSE, after enjoying rapid growth from May to August and reaching a plateau in the autumn.
This compared with "far more volatile" industrial stocks, which have recorded large swings. But the weekly believed that the expected continued high oil price in coming months had boosted investor confidence with more public money available for projects.
In its outlook for 2005, MEED said that one of the most important changes will be the planned introduction of foreign investment in the TSE, probably through special offshore funds that are being proposed by private investment firms.
It also reported that the market itself was seeking to modernize trading platforms and establish branches in different cities, which was expected to crucially reduce the high-proportion of large state-affiliated institutional investors.
The weekly predicted that the hot sectors for next year will still be financial with newly privatized banks and insurance firms expected to do well. It also believed that although the housing boom had retreated, cement stock were likely to remain strong.
It further believed that other newly privatized businesses, particularly in the oil and gas or petroleum sectors, could be very popular in 2005.

Attaining self-sufficiency in wheat was one of the biggest achievements of Agriculture Ministry and is the outcome of 45 years of hard work by Iranian experts and producers.

TEHRAN, Dec. 31--Minister of Agricultural Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati said here on Thursday that 3,584 projects will become operational during the Agricultural Jihad Week from December 28 to January 3, reported IRNA.
Speaking to reporters, he said that the projects, which are mainly in the water and soil sectors, were built at a cost of 1,445 billion rials.
The minister said that attaining self-sufficiency in wheat was one of the biggest achievements of his ministry and is the outcome of 45 years of hard work by Iranian experts and producers.
Noting that almost 90 percent of the cooking oil consumed in the country is currently being imported, he said a 10-year scheme is underway to meet domestic demands in cooking oil.
Hojjati further said that his ministry is also drawing up plans to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar which will take ten years to materialize.
According to the minister, annual sugar consumption stands at 1.8-1.9 million of which about 1.4 million tons are produced by local farmers and factories.

MADRID, Spain,
Dec. 31--Cuban Minister of Government Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz said in Havana on Thursday that Iran-Cuba Economic Commission meeting provides a good opportunity for implementing joint venture projects and exchanging viewpoints between the two countries, IRNA said.
Cabrisas was quoted by Iran's Embassy in Havana as telling the Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Idrisian that Cuba is happy with the expansion of ties with Iran, particularly in areas such as commerce and transportation.
He said that signing new trade and bank agreements between Tehran and Havana would pave the way for further joint economic cooperation.
Iran-Cuba commission meeting is due to be held in Havana late January.
Iran's Minister of Agricultural Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati will lead the Iranian delegation and Cabrisas will chair the Cuban delegation in the meeting.
The Iranian delegation will comprise officials and representatives from the Commerce Ministry, the Iran Export Development Bank and Sanir Company.

LONDON, Dec. 31--The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has moved up from fourth to third in the latest annual league table of the world's top 50 oil companies published by Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW), IRNA said.
According to the London-based newsletter, NIOC overtook Petroleos de Venezuela in its rankings based on six operational criteria covering 2003--oil and gas reserves, oil and gas output, refining capacity and product sales.
Earlier this month, the new online business publication Dinar Standard rated NIOC as the second largest company in the Islamic countries based on revenue.
PIW does not include total revenues in its rankings due to the wide difference in accounting practices but lists NIOC's income as $28.4 billion, $10 billion less than the total revenue estimated by Dinar Standard, which was extracted from OPEC data for 2003.
Middle East and North African national oil companies continue to dominate the world list, which is headed by Saudi Aramco, whose revenue, although not a criteria, was $10 billion more that the $83.1 billion calculated by Dinar Standard.
Other regional companies include Kuwait Petroleum and Algeria's Sontrach, listed as equal 12th and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company at 14th.
Iraq National Oil Company moves down one place to 22nd but remains just ahead of Libya's National Oil Corporation. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and Qatar Petroleum are ranked 25th and 26th respectively.
ExxonMobil of the US remains the top oil company in the West and second in the world, while Anglo-American BP moves up to joint second place and joint fifth in the world with Royal Dutch/Shell Group.
In terms of annual revenue, western firms remain way out in front, led by BP as the richest with $236 billion, ahead of ExxonMobil's $223 billion and Royal Dutch/Shell Group's $205 billion.