TEHRAN, May 16--Iran announced Monday talks on oil swap cooperation with Iraq have been suspended following Baghdad’s failure to make a firm decision on the issue.
Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, deputy oil minister for international affairs, told Mehr news agency that the negotiations will not resume until the new Iraqi government is formed.
“Previously, the two sides had discussed the issue but we consider the talks suspended at the moment,“ he said, stressing that Iran is interested in the project.
He said Iran will wait until the new Iraqi administration takes office to resume oil swap talks with the war-torn country.
Earlier, Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Mohammad Majed Al-Shikh told Mehr news agency that with the construction of a pipeline from the key Iraqi port Basra to Iran’s southwestern port of Abadan, some 350,000 barrels of crude oil will be transferred daily from Iraq to Iran.
He said a Japanese company will finance the project.
Iran has easy access to free waters in the south with its oil tankers capable of transferring oil to the four corners of the globe via the Persian Gulf.
The country is involved in swap projects with several Central Asian states. It purchases their oil and then exports the same amount from the Persian Gulf, earning millions of dollars in swap fees each year.

President Mohammad Khatami addressed a seminar on 'Iran Car Industry Development' in Tehran on Monday. (ISNA Photo)

TEHRAN, May 16--President Mohammad Khatami said here on Monday that the Paykan was the mother of Iran’s automotive industry and proposed that new car models in the country be named after it.
Speaking at a seminar on ’Iran Car Industry Development’, the chief executive said Iran has attained the technology in car industry, stressing that the country is now planning to expand export of domestically-made vehicles.
“Not only is Iran going to export cars, but also it is planning to export tractors and build power plants and silos in other countries,“ he said, adding that the national car, Samand, is a source of national pride.
The president further said that Iran is currently exporting $300 million worth of auto parts, expressing hope that the figure would increase in the future.
The chief executive said improvement in the automotive industry would require technological advancement in several other industrial areas, including the electronic industries.
“We began (car industry) 38 years ago with the Paykan, whereas the (South) Koreans launched their automotive industry much later,“ he said, adding that the national car industry must not focus chiefly on producing sedans and would need to improve in manufacturing buses and trucks as well.
Following heated discussions in recent months about whether production of Paykan, the Iranian version of British Hillman Hunter, would finally be phased out after 40 years, the production line of the sedan finally came to an end only on Sunday.
Some officials of the auto giant Iran Khodro, which produces the Paykan, the national car Samand and several Peugeot models, had expressed opposition to the closure of the Paykan production line in recent months.
Last June, the Oil Ministry agreed to grant $310 million to the automotive industry in return for the giant automaker Iran Khodro halting the production of Paykan after nearly four decades.
Paykan production had earlier been planned to be phased out in 1978, when it was going to be replaced with the Peugeot 305 assembly line. The project was brought to a halt with the triumph of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In 1989 again the car’s production line was supposed to be replaced with Peugeot 405. The project failed to become operational.
Iran will start production of L90 cars in April 2006. The new budget cars are expected to replace the Paykan in Iran’s demanding auto market.

ILAM, May 16--A senior customs official here on Monday called for expediting efforts to activate Mehran Export Terminal in the west of Iran, adding that the border region plays a crucial role in boosting non-oil exports to Iraq.
Nasser Ebrahimi, who heads the export affairs department at Iran’s Customs Administration (ICA), told ISNA that the local authorities must prepare the ground for greater supervision by the customs offices over export of goods to Iraq from this border area, stressing that pilgrimage affairs must be handled separately from business-related matters in Mehran.
He said estimates suggest that the border area is capable of handling export of over two million dollars worth of goods daily.
“Iraqis recognize only three types of goods; Iraq-made, Iran-made and foreign-made products,“ he said, adding that such categorization shows Iranian goods are quite popular among the Iraqis.
Some $78 million worth of goods was exported to Iraq during March 2004-2005 via the Mehran border, he pointed out.
Iranian private sector companies are reluctant to conduct business with Iraq due chiefly to security concerns and political and economic instability.
An Iraqi trade team was in the western city of Kermanshah last week to explore business opportunities.
Chairman of Sulaymaniya Chamber of Commerce and head of the business team, Taleb Seyyed Ali told ISNA that Iraqi Kurdistan enjoys security, stressing that investors from China, Korea, Italy and some other European countries are active in the area.

ARDEBIL, May 16--Agriculture Jihad Ministry is determined to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on imported edible oil, said the official in charge of implementing the national oil seed production scheme here on Monday.
According to ISNA, Alireza Mohajer further said at the one-day Seminar on Oil Seeds in the northwestern city of Ardebil, that the ministry is planning to promote colza cultivation on wheat farmlands as part of efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in cooking oil.
He said colza production could improve greatly in Iran given the suitable weather conditions and state subsidies.
The official noted that there are no financial problems to colza production, stressing that the government has guaranteed purchase of the products from farmers.
The much-publicized program for a 10-year-long nationwide cultivation of Brassica napus, or colza, agriculture experts hope, could help reduce Iran’s heavy reliance on cooking oil imports.
At present, the country imports some 90 percent of its edible oil requirement.
Annual consumption of cooking oil in Iran currently stands at 1.1 million tons, of which only 100,000-120,000 tons is produced domestically.
Import of oil seeds has also increased from 12,000 tons in the 1960s to 1.1 million tons in 2004.
Estimates suggest that some 3.5 million tons of oil seeds are required for the production of one million tons of cooking oil.
In the year to March 2006, the country is expected to produce 140,000-150,000 tons of edible oil.
Although cooking oil production in Iran has improved in the past four decades, it still does not correspond to the three-fold population growth and the 20-fold rise in demand.
Experts forecast that the country would have to spend more than two billion dollars each year on importing cooking oil in the near future.

TEHRAN, May 16--The cabinet on Monday met to review Iran’s bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari told ISNA that the ministers were hopeful the upcoming WTO meeting would have a better news for Iran, whose efforts to have its accession talks started have been constantly blocked by the United States in recent years.
He said Japan has vowed to back Iran’s WTO entry, stressing that Iran will largely benefit from the start of accession talks.
“If talks (on Iran’s WTO entry) start on May 26, we will have the European Union on our side (at the WTO negotiations),“ he said.
World Trade Organization has rejected 21 times in a row Iran’s bid to start accession talks in the face of mounting pressure from the United States and growing laxity of the European Union.
The US continues to veto Iran’s application as the European countries, which had pledged to back Iran’s bid, sit idle.
The US has backed applications by Iraq and Afghanistan and 11 Arab states have so far managed to join the organization. Iran has failed in its efforts to enter WTO since 1995.
The Islamic Republic’s insistence on World Trade Organization (WTO) membership is indicative of its determination to build greater confidence and create further transparency in its international economic interactions.
However, many economic and political observers believe that it seems quite unlikely for Iran to be able to join WTO in view of US sanctions.

Iran uses buyback deals to develop its oil and gas fields under which the foreign investor does not hold equity.

TEHRAN, May 16--An oil industry official said here on Monday that foreign companies are not interested in buyback deals.
Mostafa Khoi, managing director of PetroIran Company, said the buyback deals must be reformed to attract foreign investors.
“Foreign companies are more interested in joint ventures in order to be able to participate in the sales phase as well,“ he said, adding that buyback deals allow them only to participate in the construction stage.
He, however, said buyback deals are the only option under the present legal framework.
Iran said in November 2004 it will continue to conclude oil and gas deals in the buyback mode during the fourth development plan (2005-2010).
Under the law, long-term investments in hydrocarbon energy industries are banned, which is why the country needs to move towards short-term investments, including those conducted under buyback deals.
Iran uses buyback deals to develop its oil and gas fields under which the foreign investor does not hold equity, but recoups its spending and the profits involved once output starts.
The hydrocarbon resource-rich country is among few countries to use this mode.
Senior Oil Ministry official said earlier that buyback contract mode would not change despite plans to attract $100 billion worth of investments in the energy sector in the next decade, stressing, however, that the reforms proposed by some international oil companies would be considered in the future.
Seyyed Mehdi Mir-Moezzi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company, said foreign companies will continue to sign buyback deals for oil and gas projects in Iran.

ABU DHABI, UAE, May 16--Iranian ambassador to the Untied Arab Emirates (UAE) said here Sunday that the Iranian businessmen in the UAE should strive to correct the trade imbalance between the two Persian Gulf countries, IRNA reported.
Speaking at the Iranian Trade Council in Dubai, Mohammad Ali Hadi said that the figures indicate that bilateral trade stood at close to eight billion dollars in 2004.
The volume of UAE’s imports from Iran is not commensurate with Iran’s industrial and trade capabilities and potentials, he pointed out. “Iranian industrialists and traders should do more to turn the trade figures around,“ Hadi underlined.
He urged Iranian entrepreneurs to channel their investments into Iran.
On the recent representation of the UAE to the UN, he added the issue of three Iranian Persian Gulf islands is not new and Iran’s envoy to the world body has submitted Tehran’s response to the UN secretary general.
“Some Western media have taken advantage of the issue, although the matter was not new.“
He called for cooperation among Iranian businessmen to confront goods smuggling to Iran and underscored Iran’s determination to combat the menace.

Main challenge facing handicraft exports is the inattention to the taste of international customers.

TEHRAN, May 16--Head of Iran’s Handicraft Organization said here on Monday that the Islamic Republic is amongst the world’s top three countries in terms of handicraft production, stressing, however, that industry’s international ranking can further improve.
Ali Yazdani told ISNA that there are great potentials for improving Iran’s handicraft industry, adding that handicraft exports rose from $60 million to $76 million during 2003-2004.
The official further noted that the handicraft industry has not yet found its rightful place in the national economy.
“In the year to March 2005, some 1.2 million tourists visited Iran taking 440 billion rials worth of handicrafts as souvenirs back to their countries,“ he said, adding that the organization is planning to set up permanent handicraft exhibitions in all the provinces.
Experts believe that the main challenge facing the handicraft exports is the inattention to the taste of international customers.
Women are largely involved in the handicraft business. The Ministry of Agriculture Jihad is planning to train tribeswomen, whereas there are still certain obstacles to holding technical and vocational training courses for them.
Women are facing numerous problems in selling their handicrafts in the local markets. The ministry is planning to set up small workshops in rural areas to help women produce handicrafts and facilitate their sales.