TEHRAN, May 17--Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh said here on Tuesday that the Oil Ministry has cut 40,000 jobs since 1997 when President Khatami took office.
The minister recalled that the number of Oil Ministry employees stood at 120,000 in 1997.
“Since I took over the ministry in 1997, after President Khatami won the elections, some 40,000 people have been discharged from service and only 10,000 added to number of Oil Ministry personnel following the launching of huge gas projects in Asalouyeh area,“ he said, adding that the ministry currently has 90,000 employees.
The official further noted that the Oil Ministry has not given high priority to employing people who merely hold university degrees, stressing that the ministry implements vocational as well as on-the-job training schemes to improve its personnel’s technical skills.
He said the Oil Ministry has employed people on the basis of scientific and psychological tests.
“The Oil Ministry was the first state organization that began to train its young and well-educated workforce,“ he said.
Namdar-Zanganeh said the ministry has given priority to employing top university students, stressing that 1,500 such students have found jobs in the Oil Ministry in the past eight years.

President Mohammad Khatami visited a hydroponic tomato farm in Hashtgerd new town, about 90 km northwest of capital Tehran, on Tuesday. (IRNA Photo)

TEHRAN, May 17--President Mohammad Khatami inaugurated Iran’s largest hydroponic greenhouse in Hashtgerd in the west of Tehran on Tuesday.
According to ISNA, the greenhouse is equipped with modern hydroponic systems and spreads over a total area of 170 hectares.
The greenhouse has been divided into several 5,000-meter sections, which are to be ceded later to graduates in agriculture-related fields.
The project was undertaken at a cost of 25 billion rials. It is expected to create jobs for 4,000 people as well as provide employment and research facilities for 345 agro specialists.
The greenhouse has the capacity to produce 2.1 million kilos of various kinds of vegetables as well as herbs and ornamental plants.
In Latin, the word hydroponics means literally ’water working’.
Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in either a bath or flow of highly oxygenated, nutrient enriched water.
In soil, biological decomposition breaks down organic matter into the basic nutrient salts that plants feed on. Water dissolves these salts and allows uptake by the roots. For a plant to receive a well balanced diet, everything in the soil must be in perfect balance. Rarely, if ever, can you find such ideal conditions in soil due to the lack of organic matter left behind on the surface, contamination and biological imbalances.
With hydroponics, water is enriched with these very same nutrient salts, creating a hydroponic nutrient solution that is perfectly balanced. And since this hydroponic nutrient solution is contained, it does not harm the environment as does runoff from fertilized soil.
Additionally, very little water is lost to evaporation in a hydroponic system, owing to its application in drought stricken areas.

TEHRAN, May 17--The Central Headquarters for Fighting Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currency spokesman said here on Tuesday that two consignments of Goldquest gifts, 150 heavy machineries, several consignments of smuggled sugar as well as eight trucks carrying car spare parts have been seized recently.
According to ISNA, Mohsen Bahrami told reporters that the headquarters has ordered the confiscation of goods bound for Iran from Dubai in which the historical name of the Persian Gulf had been distorted.
He further noted that the headquarters will soon launch a campaign against smuggling of home appliances.
He said no official organization has authorized the activities of Goldquest in Iran, saying Goldquest gifts are regarded as contraband.
Last month, the Central Headquarters for Fighting Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currency reported a remarkable success in efforts to check illegal business over the past seven months.
It said confiscation of cigarettes, medicines and cosmetics increased by 20, 56 and 23 percent respectively during the period, when the number of vessels carrying contraband to southern Iran declined by 90 percent to 40 units a day.
Some 1.4 trillion rials worth of contraband was seized by the security forces in the same period.
The anti-smuggling police used sophisticated equipment, including X-ray systems at border points as well as special economic zones to check smuggling of goods into the country.

First Vice President Mohammad Aref inaugurated over 3,000 telecom projects in 28 provinces of Iran. (IRNA Photo)

TEHRAN, May 17--First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said here on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic has scored remarkable success in information technology, stressing that the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) has managed to make structural reforms in the sector.
Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate several ICT projects, he said the ministry has also succeeded in creating jobs and improving the contribution of IT to the gross domestic product.
Aref said the ICT Ministry has achieved the ambitious Third Plan (2000-2005) targets, stressing that the ministry has scored a 112-percent success in materializing the five-year plan’s goals.
“We experienced an 188-percent growth in rural telecommunication schemes,“ he said, adding that 43,800 villages now have access to telecom facilities.
Some 3,014 telecommunication projects were inaugurated Tuesday by the first vice president. According to ISNA, these projects were built at a cost of 3.08 trillion rials.
Earlier, Aref in a meeting here Monday with visiting Tunisian Transportation Minister Abderrahim Zouari discussed issues of mutual interest, IRNA reported.
At the meeting, Aref said expanding relations with Islamic and African countries is a priority in Iran’s foreign policy and added Tunisia holds a special position in this respect.
He said Iran and Tunisia’s stance on regional and Islamic world issues are close adding by making use of the two countries’ potentials, Tehran and Tunis can expand economic relations.
Aref said expansion of relations in all fields is to the benefit of both countries, the region and the Islamic world.
Zouari, for his part, expressed his country’s willingness to strengthen bilateral ties in different fields, especially in transportation, tourism and trade.
He invited Iranian investors and companies to participate in Tunisian projects, notably in road construction.
The meeting was also attended by Roads and Transportation Minister Mohammad Rahmati.

Iranian banks have been unable to issue international credit cards in recent years chiefly due to US sanctions

TEHRAN, May 17--Bank Saderat announced Tuesday it has finalized an agreement with the tiny Persian Gulf state of Bahrain on greater banking cooperation, including use of Iranian ATM cards in that country.
Seyyed Bahaoddin Hossein Hashemi, managing director of the bank, told Fars news agency that Iranian nationals can use their ATM cards to withdraw up to 300 US dollars per day and $3,000 per annum in cash from Bahraini banks.
He said under the agreement, Bahraini nationals can also use their ATM cards in Iran.
Iran and Bahrain established the joint Future Bank recently.
Bahrain-based Future Bank, a joint venture between Al-Ahli United Bank, Bank Melli Iran and Bank Saderat Iran, has a capital outlay of $99 million.
The bank which is the first Iran-PGCC banking venture for 20 years is to facilitate remittances between the countries.
Bank Saderat announced earlier it is planning to issue up to one million credit cards by March 2006.
The bank will issue credit cards with values ranging from three to 10 million rials each. It has allocated a trillion rials for the purpose.
Several agreements have reportedly been reached between Iran and a number of French banks to create an international credit card system in Iran.
Iranian banks have been unable to issue international credit cards in recent years chiefly due to US sanctions and the vast gap between Islamic banking principles and those in other countries.

TEHRAN, May 17--A senior software industry official said here on Tuesday that there are plans to increase software exports to $100 million a year by March 2007.
Fereydoon Entezari, who heads Iran Software Exporters Union, told reporters that software exports doubled in the year to March 2005 to reach $10.9 million.
“This year we have so far received requests for software export worth $15 million,“ he said, adding that Iranian software products are mostly in automation, textile industries and e-commerce areas.
He said Iran last year exported software products to Germany, Syria and Zimbabwe.
According to Moj news agency, Entezari said Iran has reached an agreement with a leading Indian software company on technical and training cooperation.
Iranian computers will enter the market in July, it was announced earlier.
The newly-produced computers enjoy specifications which are exclusive to Iran.
Iranian computers are being produced in Shiraz, Fars province.
Sample computers have been manufactured using the silicon technology and relevant tests have been conducted successfully.
Iran-made computers will hit the market by July.

Unprocessed decorative stones continue to be exported due to lack of modern processing units, leading to a huge financial loss.

TEHRAN, May 17--The value of ornamental stones export is expected to reach $60 million by March, reported Mehr news agency.
Iran’s decorative stone reserves are estimated at a billion tons. Marmarite, china and crystal constitute 36, 18 and 15 percent of the ornamental stone mines, respectively.
During March 2004-January 2005, Iran exported $52.5 million worth of decorative stones. Exports in the period showed a 16.8-percent growth against the figure for the corresponding period the previous year.
It is expected that Iran will export $120 million worth of ornamental stones per annum by end of the fourth five-year development plan (2005-2010).
Iran produced 10 million tons of decorative stones in 2003, making it the third largest producer in the world.
According to Iran’s Mining House statistics, Iran accounted for 12.3 percent of the total global production of decorative stones, which reached 81.4 million tons last year.
China with 18.6 million tons was the largest producer of unprocessed decorative stones in 2003, while India ranked second with 11.2 million tons.
Unprocessed decorative stones continue to be exported due to lack of modern processing units, leading to a huge financial loss.
More than 130 million tons of minerals are extracted nationwide per annum. The country’s minerals come in 62 types. Estimates suggest that Iran holds 24 billion tons of mineral reserves. Experts say some 80 percent of the minerals are potentially unusable, unless they are processed.

MASHHAD, Khorasan Razavi, May 17--Iran is keen on broadening trade relations with Turkmenistan, IRNA quoted Iranian ambassador in Ashkhabad as saying.
In a meeting of Khorasan Razavi Export Promotion working group in Mashhad, Gholam Reza Ansari added that Iran’s minimum transactions with Turkmenistan stood at one billion dollars, saying that the Islamic Republic is ranked second in the import of goods from and sixth in exports to the Central Asian state after Turkey, France, Germany, Israel and Russia.
He said that the mentioned countries are active in the fields of construction and technical, engineering, agricultural and security services, stressing that Iran has high potentials for forming oil consortiums for undertaking oil and gas drilling and exploration projects in Turkmenistan.
Ansari said that Iran could also invest $4.5 billion in petrochemical projects and export engineering and technical services.
The envoy noted that a change in businessmen and officials’ viewpoint on Turkmenistan capabilities would be a major step toward promoting bilateral transactions.
“At present, a consortium of Iranian water and sewage companies is operating in Turkmenistan,“ Ansari said.