TABRIZ, East Azarbaijan,
Nov. 1--A senior parliamentarian said here on Wednesday that corruption-related issues should not be brought up by the administration, stressing that the government should leave this job to the judiciary.
Mohammad Shahi-Arablou, who heads the Majlis Economic Commission, further said that the government, instead, should try to boost economic security in order to encourage private sector investments in various economic sectors.
He said the government, the parliament and the private sector need to join hands to create conditions for investments in Iran, adding that the Ahmadinejad administration has taken firm steps towards privatization, which is appreciable.
“Previous governments failed to achieve (significant) success in privatization,“ he said, adding that the recent announcement of the latest reading of Article 44 of the Constitution, which allows large-scale privatization, is considered as a surgical treatment of the ailing national economy.
He, however, criticized the failure to hold regular contacts between the government, the parliament and the private sector, stressing that the government’s groundbreaking initiative to distribute Justice Shares among the people is only a part of privatization policies promoted by Article 44 of the Constitution.
The MP said the Aggregate Tax Law will be repealed by March 2007, adding, however, it will be replaced by the value added tax law, which is expected to be ratified in the coming months.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--A senior Commerce Ministry official said here on Wednesday that global demand for Iranian raw materials has grown significantly, stressing that Iran’s geographical location has also contributed to an improvement in exports.
According to ILNA, Ali Movahhedi, deputy commerce minister for planning affairs, said the strengthening of the euro against the US dollar has also helped increase Iran’s exports to European Union.
He added that banking facilities and insurance coverage have also improved in recent years.
The official said in the year to March 2006, some 17 major items were exported from Iran with iron and steel showing a 57-percent increase against the 49-percent rise in export of pistachios compared to the figures for the corresponding period the previous year.
He said that Iran exported goods to 163 countries last year.
Two weeks ago, the commerce minister said that most of Iranian commodities are exported to high-risk destinations, calling for a 15-20 percent rise in export guarantees.
Seyyed Masoud Mir Kazemi, who was addressing a ceremony to mark National Export Day, underlined the government’s strong urge to boost non-oil exports, recalling that 65 percent of the objectives for the sector’s development materialized during the First Development Plan (1990-1995) while the lucrative sector witnessed the realization of 26.4 percent and 93 percent of its objectives in the second and third plans, respectively.
“Some 16 percent of the exports were shipped to European Union states while five percent of the exports were destined for southeastern Asian countries,“ he said.
The minister added that 20 percent and 37 percent of goods went to member states of the ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council while some 8 and 14 percent of the commodities were exported to the African and Commonwealth of Independent States, respectively.
He further noted that the UAE, India, Japan and China are the main destinations of Iranian petrochemical exports in terms of the volume imported.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Iran’s Police Chief Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam said here on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic of Iran Police (IRIP) has always supported the auto industry, adding that IRIP believes ’any move that could lead to the weakening of the industry should be avoided’.
According to Fars, the brigadier further said during his tour of the giant carmaker Iran Khodro that highlighting the automotive sector’s problems and deficiencies by the country’s mass media would be unhelpful, stressing that he has asked his colleagues not to bring up such issues in the media.
“The fact that Iran Khodro has managed to enter global arenas in recent years is undeniable,“ he said, adding that the company has made great achievements, which is a source of pride for all Iranians.
“But we expect the company to continue to seriously heed safety factors and improve quality of its products,“ he said.
It was announced on Monday that some 25,000 Peugeot 405 cars have failed to undergo safety checks by Iran Khodro after the Middle East’s largest carmaker recalled thousands of the originally-French cars for urgent checks.
Manouchehr Manteqi, the company’s managing director, said some 109,000 Peugeot 405 sedans had been recalled earlier after several cars caught fire in the past months due to defective fuel systems.
The official blamed serious flaws for car fire incidents, adding that cars manufactured at Iran Khodro conform to all relevant international standards.
However the police had said earlier that the popular car’s malfunctioning fuel system is to blame for the fatal fire incidents, and not road accidents, opening way for renewed debates on the low quality and high prices of Iran-made vehicles.

As decided by OPEC in its recent extraordinary session in Doha, Qatar, the organization cut back its crude oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day from November 1.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Iran will cut down its crude oil production from today, Monday, following a recent decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), reported IRNA quoting an official here Wednesday.
Head of the National Iranian Oil Company for international affairs Hojjatollah Ghanimifard told reporters, “As decided by OPEC in its recent extraordinary session in Doha, Qatar, the organization will cut back its crude oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day from November 1. Iran’s share in the cut will be 176,000 barrels.“
Iran’s oil minister has said any crude oil price of less than $60 per barrel is not acceptable because of the production cost.
“We hope that oil prices will rise to $60 because we do not see prices less than $60 acceptable given the production costs,“ ISNA quoted Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, as saying.
So far concrete evidence of a cut in crude oil supplies agreed upon by OPEC members to stem the decline in crude prices has only come from its largest exporter Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Hamaneh said on Monday Iran’s oil production had reached 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd), state radio reported, a level which would take output above its existing OPEC quota of 4.11 million bpd.
He told ISNA, “We have pledged to reduce our output by 176,000 bpd from our last production level, that is 4.2 million bpd, in the last OPEC meeting.“

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Given the import of cotton seeds, the sharp decline in the cultivation of this strategic commodity in the year to March 2007 has been unprecedented in the past 30 years, regretted a cotton industry official here on Wednesday.
Bahram Nazari, managing director of the Cotton Cooperatives Association, told Fars that farmers faced few difficulties harvesting cotton in the current crop year in view of the 50 percent decline in production. He pointed out that the area under cotton cultivation has also dropped by 37.5 percent this year compared to that for the previous year.
“The area under cotton cultivation decreased from 160,000 hectares in the 2005-6 crop year to 100,000 hectares in 2006-7 indicating the sharpest decline in the Iran’s cotton-planting history,“ he noted.
The official added that under the current circumstances, the government will have to import some 40,000-45,000 tons of the commodity to meet the demand of the texture industry.
Referring to the cotton harvest time, he said that the cotton farmers in northern provinces, including Gorgan and Golestan have begun picking their crops since September, and the harvest season has already started in the warm regions, adding that the output for the current year is expected to stand at 70,000-75,000 tons.
Nazari referred to the cotton reserves of the country and recalled that the Central Rural Cooperatives Organization formerly purchased 18,000 tons of cotton, of which only 7,000-8,000 tons were sold and the rest were stored in warehouses.
He stressed that the cotton reserves would never get depleted to zero, adding, however, that the reserves should be the outcome of an efficient management, not a lull in the market.
He described the state guaranteed cotton purchase scheme as ineffective, adding that the failure of the highly-publicized scheme proves that the government should take more serious measures to support and encourage the farmers of the crop, which is known internationally as ’white gold’.
He criticized the government for failing to pay certain subsidies to the industry, noting that other states have attached special significance to the industry given its economic values. He added that the commodity plays a crucial role in a number of industries such as textiles, military, livestock feeding and banknote printing.

DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 1--Iran, Venezuela and Syria have formed a consortium to construct an oil refinery in Syria, IRNA reported.
Officials of the three countries on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to the effect.
Iran’s deputy oil minister, Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh, Syria’s deputy oil minister, Hassan Zeinab and Venezuela’s director general of refinery affairs, Roberto Del Gado were present at the ceremony.
According to estimates, some $1.5 billion will be invested in the project, and relevant studies will determine each party’s share in the investment.
Currently, there are two possible sites for the oil project near Damascus, but one of them will be chosen for implementing the project.
Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Alaw and Iranian Charge d’AffairŽs in Syria Ghazanfar Roknabadi also attended the ceremony for signing the memorandum of understanding.
The three countries’ presidents raised the plan of the joint venture to construct a refinery with the capacity of 140,000 bpd of oil.
Iran, Syria and Venezuela’s common political and economic stances are based on combating US expansionism to promote multi-polar world order which can enjoy development, freedom and sovereignty.
Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president, visited Syria in September during which he praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s stance against US pressures.
He said at a news conference that Venezuela and Syria would also follow up Iran’s stance to confront US pressure.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--A top presidential aide has expressed unawareness about allegations that two billion rials has been allocated from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s annual budget for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s provincial tours.
“Who has said so?“ Ali Saeidlou, vice president for executive affairs, asked in response to a question by a reporter about whether the company’s money is used to cover the costs of the trips.
According to ISNA, the official defended the government’s decision to call three days off for the Eid al-Fitr festivity, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, stressing that the decision was ’superb’.
Some people, business owners and academics blamed the government for the unexpected move last week, raising concerns that overnight decisions could harm the national economy.
Saeidlou further defended the government’s decision to change the banks’ working hours, adding that there are no plans to reverse it.
To another question whether the current head of the Social Security Organization, Davood Madadi, is to be appointed as the head of the High Council for Free Trade Zones, the presidential aide responded, “I’m hearing this news from you!“
He said the chief executive heads the high council.
Asked whether he has any good news to tell, Saeidlou said the good news is all the good things that the government is doing for the people and the support that it receives from them.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--Head of the State Fisheries Organization here Wednesday announced that the illegal caviar sturgeon catch reached 18 tons in the year to March 2006, which is equal to the figure of the legal catch of the delicacy in the same period.
Shabanali Nezami, deputy minister of agriculture jihad, told ILNA that caviar poaching in other Caspian Sea littoral states is 10-15 times the legal catch, describing smuggling as the main threat to precious sturgeons.
He further disclosed that the organization has stationed more guards in the relevant areas as part of efforts to combat poachers of rare sturgeons, hoping that the said move would lead to a decline in the amount of caviar catch, which has dropped sharply in the past 15 years.
Earlier yesterday IRNA quoted Nezami as saying that the ninth government has put the Comprehensive Shrimp Production Scheme on its agenda, adding that given the 150,000 hectares of shrimp farms nationwide, seafood production would reach one million ton per annum.
Speaking at the Fourth International Fisheries, Seafood and Fishing Exhibition on Kish Island, Hormozgan province, he marked the quality of seafood as the missing link in the fisheries industry, adding that compared to that of developed countries, quality yield for seafood in Iran is low. He observed that Iranian seafood industry could gain a large portion of international seafood imports given the low prices of the commodities.

TEHRAN, Nov. 1--National iron industry has the potential to increase its production capacity to 16 million tons from last year’s 10 million provided that the government supports private producers.
Expressing this, Mohammad Azad, who heads the Association of Iron Traders, told ILNA that the iron market has stabilized to some extent thanks to the end of construction season and renewed imports.
“Iron prices have become moderate compared to the (high) September levels,“ he said, adding that domestic factories have agreed to raise production to 12 million tons by next March, when the country would still face a shortage of eight million tons.
“Some 50 percent of this eight-million-ton shortage could be met by domestic companies,“ he said, adding that greater state support for the private sector seems to be the best solution under the circumstances.
He said if the producers do not receive the much-needed raw materials and the importers do not get financial backing, iron prices are expected to surge with the onset of spring, when constructions resume.
Iron exports were banned in September in what experts described as a short-term remedy which cannot put an end to the growing challenges in the iron market.
Valiollah Deini, a member of the Majlis Industries and Mines Commission, said earlier that improper market conditions could be controlled to some extent by restricting exports, underlining, however, that price fluctuations will begin to worsen as soon as exports resume.
“Given the growing international iron prices, domestic prices have been kept from increasing further in Iran. This will not be the case if (international prices fall and) exports resume,“ he said, adding that the problem could be resolved only by creating a balance between iron supply and demand. “We should pursue the policy of moderate prices through appropriate planning on prices, production and consumption,“ he said.