TEHRAN, March 11--A leading Iranian bank will begin operations in war-torn Iraq within the next few days, the head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce said.
Hassan Tiz-Maghz said in a meeting of Iranian and Iraqi officials here that Iran also plans to set up an insurance firm in Iraq, Fars reported.
“Bank Melli Iran will begin operations in Iraq within the next few days in cooperation with an Iraqi development bank,“ he said, adding that Iran has also paved the way for establishing an insurance company and an inspection facility in Iraq to examine the quality of goods exported by Iranian companies to that country.
Iraqi Trade Minister Abd Al-Fallah Hassan Al-Sudani, who was among the participants at the meeting, said the Iraqi government is seeking to privatize the economy of the oil-rich nation. “Baghdad favors a market economy,“ the minister said.
He said that Iraq’s private sector was badly damaged under former dictator Saddam Hussein, and stressed that efforts were currently underway to revitalize private enterprise in the war-torn nation.
The minister pointed out that last year the Iraqi government allowed private companies to import oil derivatives. Iraq’s oil reserves are currently 115 billion barrels.
“Iran possesses great capabilities,“ he continued, calling for the implementation of previous agreements reached between the two countries.
A senior Iraqi economic delegation was in Tehran earlier this week to explore avenues for cooperation between Iran and Iraq.
Iran, which has exported over $2 billion worth of non-oil goods to Iraq since last March, is the second largest exporter of goods to that country after the United Arab Emirates. Iraq imported a total $13 billion worth of goods in 2006.
The nation’s annual budget also increased from $33 billion in 2006 to $41 billion in 2007.

TEHRAN, March 11--The target of eight percent economic growth has not materialized in the year ending on March 20, 2007 despite the commissioning of new industrial units, a member of the board of representatives of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines said.
According to ILNA, Mohammad Hadi Hadavi added that the current year’s economic growth is predicted to hit five percent. He listed stagnation, declining production and improper withdrawal of funds from Foreign Exchange Reserve Account as the main factors for this.
Hadavi said that private sector share of the Foreign Exchange Reserve Account was 50 percent but this was down to 10 to 20 percent due to irregular withdrawal by the government.
He noted that the private sector used less than $2 billion from the account and thus could not achieve its investment target.
“Because of unusual increase of salaries in the beginning of the current year, 80,000 workers lost their jobs,“ he noted.
The official stated that most banks faced a lack of liquidity in the last three months and the government contractionary policy in granting facilities to industrial units led to added problems for factories.
He said that only 20 percent of predicted credit has been allocated for small industries and the projects with quick return.
Hadavi said that replacement of dollars with euro caused losses of one to two percent for exporters of industrial and mineral products.

TEHRAN, March 11--International affairs director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Sunday that since a total of 1.2 million barrels of OPEC’s oil output was reduced in the first phase on November 1, Iran had to suspend the export of one of its oil products to northwest Europe.
Hojjatollah Ghanimifard told ISNA that the decision to reduce OPEC output in the second phase has also led to the reduction of oil export to the Mediterranean region.
OPEC’s decision to reduce output by 500,000 barrels of crude per day from February 1 also influenced the sale of oil to the Mediterranean region, he noted.
This is while before beginning of two-phase reductions of OPEC oil output, exports of oil products to northwest Europe and Mediterranean regions accounted for 20 percent of the total export of crude oil.
Asked about speculations by foreign news sources that Iran has not cut its crude oil output but has reduced export according to OPEC decision and stored surplus oil in foreign oil tankers it hired, Ghanimifard strongly rejected the same by saying that Iran does not produce surplus oil output to store.
Commenting on the revenues from the sale of crude oil, he pointed out that Iran has earned a total of $60 billion in 2006 from the sale of crude oil.

TEHRAN, March 11--Deputy interior minister for development affairs has expressed hope that swift measures will be taken to confront illegal constructions during the next Iranian year (starting March 21), particularly in the capital.
Mehdi Hashemi told ISNA that the manner in which the government has dealt with illegal constructions was unsatisfactory.
Commenting on the performance of the Special Headquarters for Fighting Illegal Constructions stationed in governors-general offices and municipalities, Hashemi noted that Article 100 commissions of Tehran Municipality and governors-general offices are especially active in this field.
“Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi has also asked the Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi to consider setting up a special branch to deal with dossiers of municipalities. However, the trend of dealing with dossiers of municipalities is very slow,“ he added.
Referring to the government’s determination to improve public transportation, Hashemi pointed out that traffic has always been an important urban problem in the past several years and many strategies have been devised to resolve this and improve public transportation.
“After the Ninth Government took office there has been greater coordination between the government and municipalities and public transportation in fields such as buses, taxis and metro has been pursued more seriously,“ he added.
Noting that private bus services have been successful, Hashemi added that the per capita transportation of passengers by private sector reached 300 per day while in government bus services the per capita transportation has reached 600 per day in Tehran province.

2,000 billion rials were allocated to 20 cement projects in the form of loans..

TEHRAN, March 11--Minister of Industries and Mines said here Sunday that cement factories should follow environmental standards to be able to continue production.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of one-million ton unit of Tehran cement factory, Alireza Tahmasbi added that all environmental problems related to cement factories should be resolved. He also pointed out that special standards were adopted, which all units should follow.
According to ISNA, Tahmasbi predicted that cement production will increase by 20 percent in the next Iranian year (starting March 21) and said that the nominal cement production of the country will reach 40 million tons, showing an increase from 35.5 million tons this year.
The minister noted that 2,000 billion rials were allocated to 20 cement projects in the form of loans, adding, “Cement production is limited in the country and this raises fears for liberalization of prices; while, if cement production increases to meet domestic needs, pricing the product will be easier.“
An expert with the Ministry of Industries and Mines said last November that some 1.435 million tons of cement had been imported in previous months, adding that 20.7 million tons of cement was produced during March-October 2006.
Mohammad Amid Moteshare’ told ISNA that some two trillion rials has been earmarked for 24 cement projects nationwide, stressing that cement production has increased by six percent in the seven-month period.

The need for developing the aerospace industry is inevitable, but it needs extensive support of the people and government, as well as special national laws and regulations..

TEHRAN, March 11--Majlis Research Center which studied the conditions of Iran’s aerospace industry has given the solutions to resolve the problems of this industry.
The Office for Infrastructure Studies of Majlis Research Center announced this while responding to a request by a lawmaker from Tehran, Ahmad Tavakkoli, for improving the conditions of Iran’s aerospace industry, Mehr reported.
The office also conducted a case study on Dorna Aerospace Company within the framework of development of aerospace industry.
It noted that the need for developing the aerospace industry is inevitable, but it needs extensive support of the people and government, as well as special national laws and regulations.
The office noted that setting up a new institution such as aerospace agency with an independent management is also inevitable.
Referring to the implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution as reiterated by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and leader’s emphasis on the development of the private sector, the office noted that it is necessary to prepare the grounds for activities in the aerospace industry and the government sector can take part in healthy competition with the private sector.
Commenting on the situation of Dorna Aerospace Company, it noted that due to the country’s political conditions and economic sanctions in place against Iran, Dorna Company has faced many difficulties in procuring spare parts for airplanes.

TEHRAN, March 11--Second National Risk-Prone Investment Conference was held in Tehran University’s Faculty of Management on Wednesday and Thursday with the aim of developing entrepreneurship and promoting risk-prone investment industry, ISNA reported.
Secretary of the conference, Saeed Safari listed the main objectives of the conference as preparing necessary grounds for developing investment in areas which are risk-prone and rendering solutions to problems on the basis of scientific achievements.
Referring to the development of entrepreneurship as a prerequisite for national development, he noted that risk-prone investment is necessary for entrepreneurship and it leads to creating jobs for university graduates.
“Setting up new companies with short-term output requires close partnership between executive bodies and investors,“ Safari added.
Referring to the agenda of the conference, he noted that the conference consisted of both practical and theoretical issues in the field of entrepreneurship and employment.
“A total of 18 papers were submitted to the conference’s secretariat and a specialized training workshop was also held,“ Safari added.
He enumerated titles of papers presented on the first day of the conference as ’Required Institutions for Development of Entrepreneurship’, ’Method of Modern Business Administration and Identification of New Financial Resources’, ’Risk-Prone Investment’, ’Financial Security and Government’s Support’ and ’Electronic Bourse, Iran Investment and New Business Strategies in Iran’.
Safari also referred to titles of papers presented on the second day of the conference as ’Entrepreneurship Growth Through Development of Small Businesses’, ’Providing Financial Security Model of New Companies Through Banking System by Emphasizing on Risk-Prone Investment Mechanism’, ’Model of Modern Barter Markets in Development of Entrepreneurship and Employment’ and ’Preparing a Model for Administration of Investing Performance of Holding Risk-Prone Investment Companies’.
He also cited other programs of the second day of the conference as holding a workshop on ’Process of Risk-Prone Investment’ and presenting papers themed ’Intellectual Ownership Strategic Management’, ’Case Study of the Institute for Technology Development of the Elite as Risk-Prone Investment’ and ’ Devising Exit Strategy for Risk-Prone Investment’.
The National Conference of Risk-Prone Investment ended on Thursday after presenting statues and certificates to the top participants.
The conference was organized by University Jihad of Tehran University, Labor Ministry, Economy Ministry, Industries and Mines Ministry, Shahed University and the private sector.

TEHRAN, March 11--Economy Minister Davoud Danesh Jafari said on Sunday that more than 91 percent of the government’s revenues envisaged in the March 2005-2006 budget for the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (ends March 20) has materialized.
Danesh Jafari told reporters that although the tax revenues were 13 percent higher than the figure for the previous year, only 83 percent of the revenues envisaged from taxes were materialized, IRNA reported.
Noting that about 92 percent of the government’s direct taxes were obtained in the first 11 months of the current Iranian year, he noted that 69 percent of the projected revenues of 2005-2006 budget bill were realized showing an eight percent rise compared to the figure for the match period in the previous year.
“About 25 percent of the total tax revenues for the current year are related to import of goods, of which 22.9 percent went to the import of goods and 2.1 percent for cars, showing a decrease of 1.7 percent compared to the previous year’s 26.7 percent,“ he added.
Commenting on the status of oil revenues in the current Iranian year’s budget, taking fluctuations into account, the total oil revenues shows a 100 percent increase in the first 11 months of the current Iranian year as compared to the amount for the corresponding period in the previous year.

TEHRAN, March 11--Loans worth about 1.98 trillion rials have been allocated for projects with quick returns as well creating jobs in the hand-woven carpet industry, disclosed Deputy Commerce Minister for economic development Mehdi Ghazanfari.
He further stated that about 75 billion rials have been earmarked for extending technical assistance to set up carpet weaving factories.
He said that so far the head offices of banks are considering loan applications for establishing 78 carpet weaving factories and 251 raw material production units.
The official said that 35,000 carpet weavers will be covered by insurance.
Increasing export incentives from three to five percent, undertaking research on dye and design are among the other measures to promote the carpet industry, he noted.
Ghazanfari added that efforts have been made to maintain and develop current markets through proper publicity campaign as well as to introduce Iranian rugs on leading TV channels.
He added that the number of ships increased from 114 to 117 and agreements signed for the purchase of 33 container and cargo ships.
The official added that about 5,115,047 tons of commodities were loaded for transporting through sea during the first nine months of the year to March 2007, up by 21 percent compared to the corresponding figure for the preceding year.
Ghazanfari said that regular shipping lines have been expanded from the southern ports to Asian and European countries while weekly services are operating from Asia to Europe.