TEHRAN, Nov. 26--A senior parliamentarian said here on Sunday that the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)’s articles of association should bring transparency to the financial turnover of oil-related accounts, stressing that the accounts have lacked transparency in recent years.
“This has been a structural problem and is not meant to accuse anyone,“ said Hossein Nejabat, a member of Majlis Presiding Board.
The lawmaker added that the Oil Ministry has drawn up the bill on NIOC’s articles of association and submitted it to the cabinet.
He said the bill envisages structural changes in an NIOC-affiliated holding company and four other affiliates, adding that the parliament will study the bill and choose the best possible options.
He also said that the parliament has given top priority to transparency in financial turnover of oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
Nejabat said energy companies’ structures should be crystal clear in terms of their being state-run, semi-state or private, adding that the competitive power and technical capabilities of such companies should also be clarified to see their effectiveness in global markets.
He said the bill has to be submitted to the Majlis before the parliament studies the budget bill for the year to March 2008.
“NIOC structures have to be clear in next year’s budget,“ he said.

The bill brings payments and revenues closer.

TEHRAN, Nov. 26--A senior lawmaker here Saturday announced that the State Services Management Bill, also known as the ’Coordinated Payment System Bill’, aims at addressing and removing discriminations which have plagued the payment system for a long time.
Hassan Sobhani, a member of the Majlis Plan, Budget and Audit Commission told ISNA that the said bill is of importance and relevant officials should pay more attention to it.
He said that the bill brings payments and revenues closer, adding that the social gap is likely to be narrowed once the bill becomes a law.
He called for exercising caution in implementing the controversial bill, elaborating that those who have received high wages should not be overburdened with unjust pressures while the bill addresses the problems of people with low income.
The lawmaker stressed the need for justice in implementing the bill, adding that justice can only be achieved by rectifying the incomes of the vulnerable strata of the society, particularly the pensioners.
He said that the education level of employees should also be considered in the bill, adding that those who are not educated should not be considered the same as high ranking officials or university graduates.
He said that the Presiding Board of the Majlis has the final say in presenting the bill to the open session, recommending that such bills be represented before the open session so that the views of all parliamentarians can be sought.

TEHRAN, Nov. 26--A senior trade official said here on Sunday that the country performed poorly in attracting foreign investments and advancing the privatization drive, underlining that efforts to implement such policies have faced numerous ups and downs since a decade ago.
Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour, who heads the World Trade Center of Iran, further noted that in spite of the slogans given and plans drawn up by the government and tireless efforts of parliamentarians, facts and figures suggest that the privatization and investment sectors have not progressed favorably.
“Unfortunately, the pace of privatization has been slow and cannot be compared to the (privatization) situation in other countries, particularly in Iran’s neighboring states and Southeast Asian nations.
Sabzalipour pointed out that Iran is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of natural resources and has the potential to embark on every economic activity as well as unique tourist attractions and workforce, stressing, however, that the huge national wealth has encouraged the government to enter the economic sector at full strength.
“The government has become a serious rival for the private sector,“ he said, adding that some state sector managers also believe that the privatization drive would deprive them of their government positions.
“Such illusions have caused resistance, in some cases, by state managers to privatization programs,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Nov. 26--State Expediency Council (SEC) Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here on Sunday that the government is growing larger, which runs counter to Vision 2025 that has stipulated an annual 10-percent cut in the government’s executive tasks.
According to Moj news agency, the SEC chief further said at the International Conference on Problem Solving Techniques and Strategies, which was held at Tehran’s Heads of State Summit Venue, that the country needs to recognize where it stands now and where it wants to reach in the next 20 years.
“Every country has its own long-term plans and every election brings about changes. It would be quite natural for newly elected officials to make promises without knowing what they really mean, because they do not have a hand in running the (country’s) affairs,“ he said, adding, “They make pledges and they realize just midway that they cannot be materialized.
“Therefore, the people would change their vote,“ he said.
Rafsanjani, a former president, also said that the world has realized that the changes and replacements would harm decision-making processes, leave works incomplete and impose high costs on nations.
“This trial and error would be very destructive for a political party and for the entire society,“ he said, adding that it would be very difficult to plan for the next 20 years.
“However, the world has felt the need to put forward (long-term) visions which has been pursued by every government upon taking office,“ he said.

CHABAHAR, Sistan-Baluchestan, Nov. 26--Deputy head of Chabahar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ) for investment affairs has announced that a Chinese delegation including investors in the petrochemical sector arrived here on Saturday, IRNA reported.
Mahmoud Hosseinzadeh Hejazi said the delegation will study and hold talks with CFTZ official on building petrochemical storage tanks in the port city.
A member of the delegation said the aim of the trip to Chabahar was to find a suitable site for building ’oil tank farm’ in the area.
A president of a Chinese company, who is also a member of the delegation, said after studying Chabahar’s strategic position that they have concluded that joint cooperation with Iran in this sector is completely possible.
The Chinese investors are in Chabahar for a three-day visit at the official invitation of CFTZ managing director.

As the world’s largest lake, the Caspian Sea has witnessed several developments throughout its history, the most important being the discovery of huge energy resources which has given it geopolitical and geo-economic importance.
According to the Persian daily ’Iran’, the first oil drilling operations of the Caspian energy resources began in Baku, Azarbaijan close to the outbreak of the Second World War. Later during the Second World War, threats of German invasion of the oil-rich city made Soviet authorities terminate drilling operations in Baku and resume them elsewhere in the Soviet Union, particularly the region between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of newly independent states, some disputes arose over the ownership of the oilfields, the exploitation operations and transfer of oil to international markets. Differing views of the littoral states and the absence of a legal system for the sea exacerbated the disputes.
Russian authorities not only consider oil issues of the Caspian Sea as economic but also political and of security importance and thus claim military presence in the Caspian Sea.
Given the high sensitivity of the issue, experts believe that transregional rivals would even play a role in this respect.
Iran undoubtedly has great geopolitical significance in view of its sustainable and fixed geopolitical variables and high economic potentials, borders on the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, common cultural and historical backgrounds with littoral states and access to a host of energy resources. It can thus play the most crucial role, along with Russia, another major player in the Caspian region.
Once convergence is established among Caspian Sea littoral states, disputes over the high profile Caspian Sea Legal Regime would be settled without the intervention of other states. This is essential for attracting more foreign investments, which would be materialized only by maintaining peace and order in the region. On the contrary, if disputes over the said regime persist, all littoral states will suffer huge losses.
Littoral states, particularly Iran should adopt appropriate diplomatic approach to the controversial issue and join hands to settle disputes in order to attract more foreign investments in the abundant energy resources of the region.

TEHRAN, Nov. 26--Iran’s House of Industries and Mines announced Sunday that an increase in profit rates on deposit accounts would contradict the government’s monetary policies.
According to IRNA, Hadi Ghanimifard, who heads the house, told reporters that some banks have increased short-term lending rates to 14 percent in a bid to show that it is not possible to reduce bank rates.
He further said on the sidelines of the National Meeting of Heads of Houses of Industries and Mines, that in other countries, industrialists provide 25 percent of funds and the monetary and credit institutions supply the rest of financial requirements of a project.
“However our industrialists face problems in this respect,“ he said.
Ali Asghar Jomehei, who heads Semnan’s House of Industries and Mines, also said at the meeting that in spite of the high significance of the privatization schemes, there are certain people whose personal interests do not allow them to cooperate with the drive.
“The private sector has a duty to demand the implementation of the latest reading of Article 44 of the Constitution (which allows large-scale privatizations),“ he said, adding that manufacturing units must also create associations.

NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 26--Iran has proposed a joint investment of $800 million by Indian and Iranian companies to boost trade and economic ties between the two countries, the Indian Express said.
“Iran’s proposal for a joint investment by 400 Indian and Iranian companies with a minimum $2 million each was welcomed by Indian authorities,“ a senior Iranian official, who was part of a high-level business delegation which met Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said.
It is expected that with the investment of a minimum $800 million, the companies of the two countries would have the very stable economic relations, the official said, adding the cooperation between the two countries had been concentrated on the small and medium scale industries.
At the meeting a proposal was put forward for transferring 5,000 tons of tea produced by blending Indian and Iranian tea for Russian consumption. The official said the next meeting of the business and industrial authority of the two countries would discuss transiting one million tons of wheat produced by India for Afghanistan through Iran.

TEHRAN, Nov. 26--A senior telecommunications industry official said here on Sunday that the general contractors (GCs) in the groundbreaking project to develop the national cellphone network have undertaken to complete 50 percent of the job by December 21, stressing, however, that the project has shown a progress of 22 percent so far.
“If they manage to get half the job done by late December, it would have a positive impact on the work as it proceeds,“ said Vafa Ghaffarian, deputy minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and head of Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI).
The official further said that after 50 percent of the project is completed, the company will decide on the remaining half.
“We hope that we will manage to distribute one million SIM cards per month by mid-February,“ he said, adding that a total of 3.1 million SIM cards are expected to be ceded in the period.
In October, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at the ceremony to sign the groundbreaking agreement between the Ministry of Industries and Mines and the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology to manufacture mobile phones that Iran is ready to produce all telecoms equipment.
“But we should not expect quick and easy profits,“ he said, adding that the Iranian nation deserves to have much more than what it has at present.
It was announced earlier that TCI has reportedly imported two trillion rials worth of telecoms equipment in breach of the law on maximum use of domestic capabilities.
The company imported certain mobile phone network equipment, which is manufactured by some domestic firms.
Fars news agency said a recent study by telecoms experts shows that some 60 billion rials worth of equipment imported by TCI are being produced domestically.
The equipment, including antennas, connectors and cables, are produced by four Iranian companies. The company has imported the equipment from Nokia of Finland, Germany’s Siemens and Sweden’s Ericsson.

Some 90,000 tons of poly propylene will be produced in the first phase of the complex.

ISFAHAN, Nov. 26--The first private petrochemical unit in the country is due to come on stream in Mahshahr, Khuzestan province, head of the board of directors of Rejal Petrochemical Complex told IRNA here on Saturday.
Ali Mohammad Rejali said that the some 90,000 tons of poly propylene will be produced in the first phase of the complex, which is to be inaugurated next week concurrent with the birth anniversary of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shiite Imam.
He added that Isfahani investors have so far spent 950 billion rials on the complex and its development.
He stated that in the first stage of the complex development plan, the production rate is expected to reach 160,000 tons. It is also scheduled to produce propylene gas from the natural methanol gas using modern technology in subsequent stages.
The official said that the complex sprawls over an area of 227,000 sq.m. of which some 127,000 sq.m. has been allocated for the first phase of the complex.
In various stages of construction, up to 1,200 people will be employed and once operational the facility will be run by 180 people, he added.
Rejali stated that due to the extensive uses of propylene in industries such as textile, it also creates job opportunities and for every ton of production, a new job would be created.
He added that the license was purchased from a German company and all the engineering work from the beginning up to commissioning stage was undertaken by Iranian experts.