TEHRAN, Sept. 27--National Document on Social Welfare for 70 million Iranians has been drawn up, said the deputy minister of welfare and social security for poverty eradication and targeted subsidies affairs.
According to the Persian daily Donya-ye Eqtesad, Es’haq Salahi-Kojour said the document is in its final stages and will come into force soon.
“The document has been sent to the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) and will have to be endorsed officially by the government,“ he said, adding that no major changes are expected to be made to the document in the process.
He said the document has set eight major objectives in line with the Ninth Government’s efforts to eradicate poverty.
The official further noted that reducing poverty and protecting the vulnerable social strata are high on the Ahmadinejad administration’s agenda.
“Distributing the justice shares and expanding social security and health insurance coverage as well as targeted subsidies are other major goals pursued by the administration,“ he said, adding that poverty will not be eradicated through direct financial assistance.
The official said, however, that there are some sections of the society who live below the extreme poverty line and who are in dire need of the most basic nutritional requirements.

MADRID, Spain,
Sept. 27--World Bank is ready to provide Iran’s private sector with financial assistance.
Announcing this, Ana Palacio, senior vice president and World Bank Group general counsel said that the World Bank is ready to extend various banking and financial assistance to the private sector, IRNA reported.
In a meeting with Iranian ambassador to Spain Seyyed Davoud Salehi on Tuesday, Palacio also expressed WB’s readiness to promote cooperation with Iran in different financial operations, particularly in training banking experts in legal and banking affairs.
Palacio briefed Salehi on the activities of the bank, describing its cooperation with Iran as ’extensive’.
Referring to the latest economic developments in Iran following the leader’s directive on transferring the shares of state-run companies to private ownership, Salehi, for his part, expressed Iran’s readiness to expand cooperation with the bank.
58 year-old Palacio, who served as the foreign minister in the former Spanish government, began her work as the consultant of the World Bank in June 2006.
The World Bank Group is a group of five international organizations responsible for providing finance and advice to countries on economic development and poverty reduction, and encouraging and safeguarding international investment. The group and its affiliates have their headquarters in Washington, DC, with local offices in 109 countries.
It provides loans at preferential rates to member countries, as well as grants to developing countries.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Although Iran Offshore Industries Company (Sadra) failed to deliver Alborz platform on schedule, the company is to construct a semi-floating oil drilling platform in Venezuela.
Managing director of Sadra, Jalil Khobreh told Fars that an agreement was also reached to establish a branch of the company in Latin America, reported the Persian daily Donya-ye Eqtesad here Wednesday.
Sadra will construct a semi-floating platform in Venezuela while honoring the previous contracts, he added.
Khobreh had announced earlier that some 98 percent of the construction project of the semi-floating platform of Alborz has been completed and would be ready for delivery to the North Drilling Company by early September.
Stating the above to Fars, he had said the construction project of semi-floating platform will end by early September and after that the North Drilling Company will have to dispatch a taskforce and equipment for transferring it. This is while the delivery of the said platform has been delayed for two years due to several reasons.

Following recent increases in fruit import tariffs and low distribution of domestically produced fruits, the price of some fruits has increased 100-150 percent.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--A member of parliament here Wednesday urged the government to act against price hikes during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Talking to Moj news agency, Gholam-Reza Mesbahi Moqaddam added that the Majlis held several sessions with the relevant ministers before Ramadan to seek ways of controlling possible price hikes. The ministers took some measures to reduce the prices of goods which were high before Ramadan.
The lawmaker noted that a fresh round of price hikes started in the holy month, but due to Majlis vacations, representatives could not meet related officials to study the issue.
“However, the parliament cannot undertake executive operations and it is the government which brought about the situation by its weak supervision and should soon make up for losses,“ the MP added.
Mesbahi Moqaddam concluded that if the price hikes continue, the members of parliament would question related officials in Majlis.
Meanwhile, following recent increases in fruit import tariffs and low distribution of domestically produced fruits, the price of some fruits has increased 100-150 percent.
Fruits whose seasonal distribution has ended increased 100 percent.
According to ISNA, Vahid Aboutaleb, a fruit market expert, said simultaneous distribution of fruits because of high temperature in summer and lack of storage facilities were responsible for shortages in the market.
Excessive distribution during summer time and high import caused fruit prices to fall, but he said due to change of season and high import tariffs the distribution and fruit imports decreased. He said all the mentioned elements resulted in fruit price increases.
Aboutaleb stressed that for lack of sufficient management and planning to reserve fruits, the country will experience further price hikes during September-October.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--A former lawmaker said here on Wednesday that the decision to keep gasoline prices unchanged has created numerous challenges, stressing that it is not possible to fight market prices.
Ahmad Meidari told ILNA that when a commodity faces a shortage of supply, its price will automatically go up.
He said the parliamentarians are required to stop insisting on the Fixed Price Law, because, otherwise, higher gasoline consumption will be inevitable.
The former MP said the expansion of public transport systems is a must, stressing that the government cannot keep transportation costs unchanged without first developing public transport.
He said, however, that a possible increase in gasoline prices will exert heavy pressures on the people.
“Billions of dollars was spent on gasoline imports in recent years, which could have been invested in creating jobs,“ he said.
Hassan Moradi, vice chairman of Majlis Energy Commission, said earlier this month that the government’s decision to increase gasoline prices is indicative of the fact that the Fixed Price Law was nothing other than a ’headache’ for the country.
The MP also said that the government has agreed to revise prices of basic goods and services, which remained unchanged since last year when the controversial Fixed Price Law came into force.
“The government is suffering a loss of 28 billion rials a day because of the Fixed Price Law,“ he said, adding, “Profiteers were the main beneficiaries of this law.“
The MP said the government is unable to control prices, adding that taxi fares have gone up by 12 percent despite fixed gasoline prices.
But Gholamreza Mesbahi Moqaddam, a member of the Majlis Economic Commission, believes that the parliamentary decision to keep prices unchanged led to a decline in the inflation rate.
He said that the people began this year with little expectations of higher prices.
“The ’logical’ fixed price decision reduced the inflation-related expectations’ significantly,“ he said, rejecting criticisms that the decision was wrong.
Experts blame fixed gasoline prices for excessive consumption.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Iran’s governor to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Hossein Kazempour Ardebili has denied that Iran’s crude oil output is less than the quota set by the organization, stressing that the country’s oil production capacity has even exceeded the said quota.
Describing the recent news about Iran’s output quota as unfounded, he told ISNA that the reasons behind such speculations are due to several factors. “Given that Iran’s daily production quota set by OPEC stands at 4.1 million barrels, the country at present has the capacity to produce (even) 4.2 million barrels per day,“ he said.
A portion of this quantity is processed in Iran, whereas the rest is exported, he said, adding that previously domestic oil consumption was estimated on the basis of nominal capacities of OPEC and this led to an increase in Iranian refineries’ capacity.
Some 1.35-1.4 million barrels of oil are processed in Iran daily, he said, adding that taking into account the amount of crude oil exported from Khark Island, the figure increased to 3.95-4.15 million barrels a day.
It was said that the output of Soroush and Norouz oilfields has declined to a half, and OPEC officials rushed to reduce some 190,000 barrels of Iran’s total oil production, thus they announced that Iran’s oil output has decreased, he said, criticizing OPEC for ignoring the fluctuations in the process of oil swap in its statistics.
Some people pursue political motives in alleging that Iran’s oil exports are declining, he said.
Asked why the country’s production capacity is not far above its quota, he said that this depends on investments in oil sector. He added that most of the OPEC members, especially the Persian Gulf littoral states are facing a drop in production due to outdated reservoirs, lack of access to new technologies and increase in service costs from $1-$2 dollars to $7-$8 per barrel.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Ports and Shipping Organization chief said all the country’s marine terminals are currently run by the private sector, stressing that Iran has managed to develop its infrastructure and port activities at a higher speed.
“We are planning to cede a major portion of marine industry activities to the private sector,“ Ali Taheri-Motlaq said, adding that container movement shows a 10-percent increase over the March-August period, when 8,285 vessels were handled by the country’s ports.
According to the Persian daily Kargozaran, the official said that some three million passengers visit the country’s islands and beaches, adding that the figure is expected to reach 5.5 million under the Fourth Five-Year Plan (2005-2010).
The official further noted that the national container movement capacity will increase from the current 110 million tons to 150 million tons by 2010.
Taheri-Motlaq said earlier that an average five vessels will join Iran’s marine fleet per month by next March.
He said that the organization has purchased 91 vessels, adding that 20 new international shipping lines have begun cooperation with Iran.
“We have signed marine transportation cooperation agreements with 61 countries and offered certain incentives including 50 percent discount on port charges and duties,“ he said, adding that in the country’s Caspian Sea ports, such discounts led to a 68-percent rise in transit of oil during March-August.
Some 100 shipbuilding projects are underway in the country. Iran reportedly needs to purchase 40 vessels until 2009.
The International Maritime Organization has 140 member states with Iran ranking among the top 20.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Head of State Veterinary Organization here Wednesday denied reports that Iran’s fisheries products are infected with cholera virus.
Hossein Hasani told Fars that his organization and Institute of Standard and Industrial Research of Iran supervise fisheries export to Persian Gulf states and Europe.
The official said that Kuwait has not reported officially any cholera infections in Iran’s fisheries exports and the State Veterinary Organization has not confirmed the contamination.
Earlier, Kuwait slapped an indefinite ban on all fish imports--fresh and frozen--from Iran and Pakistan on health grounds, Minister of Commerce and Industry Falah Al-Hajeri said.
The ban was attributed to a suspicion that some fish imports from the two Asian nations could contain bacteria that cause cholera, the minister told the state-run Kuna news agency.
Some members of the municipal council have alleged that the state’s food health authorities have allowed Iranian and Pakistani fish imports into Kuwait despite testing positive for the cholera microbe.
The council is scheduled to hold an emergency session today to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, claims by municipal councilor Majed Al-Mutairi on the import of a consignment of fish infected with NAG virus has escalated into a hot issue on the Municipality’s agenda, reported Al-Watan.
The council members had demanded further investigations into the matter to verify the credibility of the report. “We’ll surely refer the matter to the Emir if the concerned ministers fail to respond appropriately,“ warned Al-Mutairi, pointing out that publicizing the issue was driven by strong and honest motives in the interest of the nation, rather than merely attracting cheap propaganda at the cost of public health.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--A senior industrial official said that the joint venture with France’s giant carmaker Renault will begin production of L90 budget cars from late October, stressing that some 20,000 units will be produced by next March.
According to the Persian daily Donya-ye Eqtesad, Mehdi Mofidi, who heads the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), further said at his first press conference in 10 months that the price tag for the car has been set, but that it will be subject to fluctuations in the parity rates of the rial against major foreign currencies.
“Price ranges from 6,750 euros for the regular model,“ he said, adding that L90 production will reach 150,000 units next year.
The official also said that L90 is a relatively inexpensive with a high quality.
He said the L90 project is the first automotive industry joint venture in which the Iranian side manufactures 50 percent of the car parts from the very beginning.
Earlier, the head of Iran’s Carmakers Association said that Renault L90 is expected to overtake the currently popular Peugeot models in Iran’s demanding auto market.
Ahmad Khodabakhsh said, however, that Peugeot already has a huge market in Iran.
He said Peugeot is certainly not satisfied with Renault project in Iran.
Iran is one of the fastest growing auto markets in the region. Major carmakers Iran Khodro and Saipa manufacture a million cars a year.
The two carmakers are involved in the multibillion-euro L90 project with Renault, making it one of Iran’s largest foreign investment ventures.