With the implementation of the project to transfer water from Zayandeh-Roud River, some 240,000 people in and around Kashan will have access to safe drinking water. (Photo by Mehdi Khoshnevis)

TEHRAN, May 24--President Mohammad Khatami will inaugurate the groundbreaking project to transfer water from Zayandeh-Roud River to the parched city of Kashan in central Iran on May 28.
With the implementation of this project, some 240,000 people in and around Kashan will have access to safe drinking water.
According to Iran Daily, residents of the historical city complain about substandard water.
The project includes 240 kilometers of pipeline, which would transfer water from the river to Kashan.
In another development, Mohammad Ali Torfeh, managing director of Isfahan and Charmahal-Bakhtiari Regional Water Department told reporters that with the implementation of the project to transfer water from Langan Spring and Sibak and Sardab rivers to Zayandeh-Roud, the water shortage problem in those areas will be overcome.
The official said the project was launched in 1997 and once it becomes operational, some 120 million cubic meters of water will be transferred to Zayandeh-Roud.
He said some 16.7 kilometers of tunnels have been constructed for this project.
“Some 195 million cubic meters of water will be transferred to Zayandeh-Roud per annum within the next three years,“ he added.
He said some 400 billion rials has so far been spent on the project and another 600 billion rials will be required to complete it.

TEHRAN, May 24--Iran is among Asia’s top three gold consuming nations, said a report released by Iran’s Mining House.
According to Fars news agency, the report places India as the largest gold consuming country in the world and puts the total global production at 2,600 tons a year.
Half of the world’s proven gold reserves of 42,000 tons are located in Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Peru and Chile. Iran’s proven gold deposits stand at 300 tons.
Several international companies have shown interest in or are already involved in gold exploration in Iran.
Iran is rich in natural resources although gold exploration has been minimal over the past 25 years, due in part to US sanctions.
Gold trade is prohibited in the country. Central Bank of Iran (CBI) insists that the ban will continue.
Under a 1991 bylaw regulating export, import and trade of gold, silver and platinum, exporters of gold products will first have to obtain a permit from the CBI.

TEHRAN, May 24--Central Headquarters for Fighting Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currency spokesman said here on Tuesday that the Pakistani security forces have turned a blind eye to the smuggling of goods from Iran to that country.
Mohsen Bahrami told Fars news agency that border police in Pakistan have done little to check smuggling of goods from Iran, stressing that Pakistani merchants also cooperate with the smugglers.
The official further noted that fuel and other oil products constitute a major portion of smuggled goods, adding that huge differences in prices of fuel in Iran and in regional countries is to blame for the worsening of the situation.
“Smuggled fuel could help improve Pakistan’s gross domestic product as the country takes huge profits in the illegal business,“ he said, calling on the Pakistani side to fight smuggling of goods.
Rejecting speculations that the goods smuggled into Pakistan also include arms, the official said the smugglers take chiefly subsidized Iranian fuel out of the country.
Earlier this month, Bahrami said two consignments of Goldquest gifts, 150 heavy machineries, several consignments of smuggled sugar as well as eight truckloads of car spare parts were seized recently.
He 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.

TEHRAN, May 24--Iran is planning to export 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, once the ongoing talks with Italy, Spain, France and Britain on LNG exports are finalized, said a senior gas industry official.
Roknoddin Javadi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Exports Company, told ILNA that talks with Japan on LNG exports are in the initial phase, stressing that two million tons of LNG could be exported to the East Asian country once negotiations reach a concrete result.
The official said the company is also planning LNG exports to Mexico, adding that it has participated in a relevant tender.
Javadi said LNG exports to Mexico could total 4.5 million tons.
“We have a duty to work to increase the country’s share in the world gas market,“ he said, adding that LNG talks are overshadowed by political issues.
He said Iran failed to win the gas export contact with South Korea merely due to political issues.
On Iran-India LNG cooperation, the official said talks are progressing favorably.
“Our hope is that LNG export contract with India would be finalized during the remaining period of President Khatami’s term in office,“ he said.

TEHRAN, May 24--An agro official here on Tuesday said the global demand for pistachios currently stand at several million tons while Iran could export 150,000-200,000 tons of pistachios per annum.
Issa Kalantari, secretary general of Farmers’ House, told ISNA on the sidelines of the Fourth International Symposium on Pistachios and Almonds that the huge publicity by the United States, which has turned into a major pistachio producing country in recent years, has helped Iran take advantage of growing international market for the nut.
“Thanks to the cultivation and marketing of pistachios by the Americans, we could easily take advantage of the current situation to improve our pistachio exports,“ he said, adding that the agriculture industry needs to develop pistachio sector to cater for the growing world demand.
He said the area under pistachio cultivation needs to increase, stressing, however, that Iranian farmers face severe technical, financial and commercial challenges.
Kalantari said late frosts destroyed 35-55 percent of pistachio crop last year.
Iran exported 136,000 tons of pistachios worth over $800 million during March 2004-2005.
Pistachio production could decline by over 60 percent in the year to March 2006 due to unseasonal hot weather in March and frosts in April that hit almost all parts of the country’s pistachio growing region in the southern province of Kerman.
The yield in Iran remains low at one ton per hectare, whereas other pistachio producing countries harvest three tons per hectare.
Iranian farmers sell pistachios to cooperative companies for $4.1 per kilo.
Pistachio production has been under stricter quality control in recent years, when the country managed to expand its pistachio export markets throughout Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Iran produced 240,000 tons of pistachios in 2003.

MOSCOW, May 24--Iran’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation Gholam-Reza Shafeie here Monday in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy in International Energy Cooperation Affairs Igor Yousefev studied the two countries’ potentials for cooperation in oil and gas fields, according to IRNA.
At the meeting, the two officials agreed that it is in the mutual interest of Tehran and Moscow to maintain constant consultations on Caspian Sea affairs, and to cooperate in making use of the resources of the world’s largest lake.
Shafeie said, “Iran and Russia, the two countries with largest natural gas reserves in the world, can forge broad cooperation in meeting the natural gas requirements of European and Asian markets.“
For his part, Yousefev referred to the strong economic and political relations between the two countries in the past few years and announced Moscow’s willingness to further strengthen ties with Tehran.
He added, “Russia is particularly interested in broadening cooperation with Iran in the energy sector and in that respect we can collaborate in particular fields both at the international level and in Caspian Sea affairs.“
President Putin’s special envoy for international energy cooperation affairs reiterated the Russian Federation’ objection to the presence and interference of foreign countries in the Caspian Sea and its affairs.

Among the least-expensive cars on the market, Rio comes as a sedan and as a wagon.

TEHRAN, May 24--Iranian carmakers must move towards self-sufficiency, said the minister of industries and mines here on Tuesday.
According to ILNA, Es’haq Jahangiri said at the opening ceremony of the assembly line of the South Korean car Rio that the national automotive industry has achieved sufficient progress in recent years, expressing hope that the 20-Year Perspective would help internationalize the industry.
Noting that car assembly industry has to way to auto manufacturing, the minister said the government must make efforts to globalize the car industry in partnership with foreign companies.
He said CKD (complete knock down) imports are not in the national economic interests.
Jahangiri expressed hope that the obligatory Euro-II standards could help improve the quality of Iran-made vehicles, adding that national carmakers need to observe 55 new standards in their products.
Iranian carmakers have tried in the past few years to assemble some of the world’s latest models, including Daewoo’s Matiz and Peugeot 206.
Renault-Nissan’s Logan, a new member of the L90 budget sedans family, will also be produced in Iran as of 2006 in what experts say is the largest car industry project the country has ever embarked on.
Rio is redesigned for 2006 as a version of Hyundai’s new-generation Accent. The outgoing Rio is a Kia design that Hyundai inherited when it took control of Kia several years ago.
Kia is the same company which exported to Iran the Pride budget cars in 1993 and set up the assembly line here a few years later.
Among the least-expensive cars on the market, Rio comes as a sedan and as a wagon. It has a four-cylinder engine, manual transmission is standard and automatic optional. ABS, air conditioning, power windows, and power door locks are also optional.