A 380-million-euro agreement on the construction of alumina (aluminum oxide) factory with an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons was signed between caretaker of Ministry of Industries and Mines Ali-Akbar Mehrabian and Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Leo Jen Tung on Tuesday.
The project will involve Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, University Researches Institute, China’s NFC Company as well as Armenia.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mehrabian said that Iran ranks 15th in the world in terms of aluminum production. Once the aluminum projects are implemented, the country will be among the top 10 global producers, he underlined.
He predicted that 70 percent of the domestic demand for aluminum will be met following the implementation of ongoing projects, ISNA reported.
The official explained that the factory aims to produce alumina from Nepheline Syenite stone which is found in Razgah Mine to the west of Sarab, East Azarbaijan province.
Also, the executive head of the project said that the factory would be constructed in an area of 10 hectares, 18 kilometers from Sarab. Hassan Taqavi-Rad explained that once the project is implemented, about 200,000 tons of Alumina, 115,000 tons of potassium carbonate, 35,000 tons sodium carbonate and 3.5 million tons of cement would be produced annually.
Outgoing Chinese ambassador told the same gathering that China has implemented many projects in East Azerbaijan province.
Leo Jen Tung explained that NFC Company operates in many countries such as Mongolia, Zambia, Canada and Australia. It cooperates with Iran’s copper, zinc and aluminum industries, he added.
Highlighting that he is nearing that completion of his mission to Iran, he said the he had succeeded in increasing the volume of trade between the two nations to over $20 billion from three billion dollars during his five-year tenure.

Astara Port in northern Gilan province will be transferred to the private sector, managing director of provincial Ports and Shipping Department announced.
Farhad Kouhsari told ISNA that merchants who purchase the port can use it as a private import-export channel for goods.
Permit to build the multi-purpose port was issued in 1994 but to date only its fisheries section has become operational, he elaborated.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to the Caspian province with his cabinet ordered for commissioning of the port’s trade section, the official noted.
According to him, Astara Port currently has a 150-meter jetty and an area of 16 hectares. If a new jetty is build for the port, it can be used for fuel transit, Kouhsari said.
The official assured entrepreneurs that macro investments in the port can be profitable. If small ports are run by private owners, they can help local economy flourish and create new jobs, he concluded.
Sale of Astara Port, on the coast of Caspian near the northern border with Azerbaijan, is in line with Article 44 of the Constitution which seeks large-scale privatization and downsizing the government.
Private investment in ports and shipping has grown significantly in the past two years with about nine trillion rials invested in the sector.

Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina is looking for additional crude oil supplies for a 300,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery it plans to build jointly with Iran, a company official said on Wednesday.
Pertamina Processing Director Suroso Atmomartoyo said Iran would only be able to supply 100,000 bpd of crude for the $4 billion refinery which will be built in either West Java or East Java province. “We are seeking around 200,000 bpd of crude for the refinery from other sources,“ Atmomartoyo told Reuters.
Another Pertamina official said there was no timeframe for when construction of the refinery would begin. “There’s still a long time to go before the refinery is built because Pertamina has not talked about the financing,“ said the official, who declined to be identified.
Indonesia needs new oil refineries to meet growing domestic oil products demand, and is in talks with foreign firms to build refineries.
Indonesia, the only OPEC member in Asia Pacific, has nine oil refineries scattered across the archipelago, with total capacity of around one million bpd. However, 30 percent of the oil products it consumes are imported.
Last Year, Indonesia and Iran reached a $5 billion-deal to develop an oil refinery on the densely-populated Java island that would largely target China.
Elnusa, a unit of Indonesian state energy firm Pertamina, and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed the deal.
NOIC will provide 20-25 percent of the equity for the refinery project, Elnusa 20 percent and the rest is to be sought from other sources.

Parviz Fattah

Energy Minister Parviz Fattah said 110 billion kilowatt/hour of electricity have been added to the national grid in the first half of the current Iranian year to March 2008.
This shows a 6.5-percent growth compared to the figures for the same six months last year, he told reporters late Tuesday, adding that power failures declined by 54 percent during March 21-Sept. 22.
“Most power outages occurred in the southeastern of the country in Sistan-Baluchestan province due to Cyclone Gonu.“
In early June, Cyclone Gonu battered three southern provinces. Heavy flooding resulted from cyclone damaged the basic infrastructure, including power transmission lines, in southern regions.
The minister noted that new plants which joined the power networks this year generate 2,700 megawatts of electricity of which 600 megawatts are produced by hydroelectric and the remaining from combined cycle power plants. He added that new thermal and hydroelectric power plants with a capacity t 2,600 megawatts will become operational by March.
Turning to dam buildings, Fattah said 24 new dams would be commissioned by March of which Raeis Ali Delvari in Bushehr province, Sivand and Mollasadra in Fars province, Ekbatan in Hamedan province and Shian in Kermanshah province have been inaugurated so far.
With the commissioning of Mamlou Dam in southeastern Tehran, 200 million cubic meters of water would be added to the water reserves of the megapolis, the minister underlined.
He put the number of large and small dams under construction at 88 with the capacity of 10 billion cubic meters.
The ministry plans to add two billion cubic meters to national water capacity each year, he said.
Meanwhile, Fattah noted that precipitation increased by 30 percent this year.
On the ministry’s activities to implement Article 44 of the Constitution, he said that 11 state irrigation companies and networks and 15 power transmission firms were transferred to the private sector. Fifteen companies are up for privatization by Nov. 21. “Privatization of 10 power plants is near,“ the minister concluded.

Iran is home to five pure breeds of horses including Turkmen, Arabian, Caspian, Qarebagh and Kurd.

The most beautiful Iranian horses will be showcased in ’Asbvareh (horse) Espahan’ Festival in central city of Isfahan, director of the event said.
Hadi Karbasi was quoted by the Persian daily ’Iran’ as saying on Wednesday that the festival, slated for Oct. 23-26, is aimed at attracting domestic and foreign tourists in sports tourism.
Thoroughbreds such as Turkmen, Caspian, Darreshouri, Persian and crossbred like Persian-Arabian horses will be displayed in the event, he noted.
The event hosting Arab, Australian and European tourists has sections such as auction of Iranian horses, polo and show jumping contests.
In early September, a horse show was held in Tehran’s Norouzabad Riding Complex to choose the top Iranian horses in the display and show jumping sections.
Horses named ’Pazan’ from Yazd and ’Zelzeleh’ (earthquake) ranked first and second respectively in the Iranian thoroughbred stallion section of the beautiful thoroughbred horse contest while horses called ’Sousou’ from Isfahan and ’Azalia’ from Tehran took the top two places respectively in the Iranian thoroughbred mare section of the event.
Iran is home to five pure breeds of horses including Turkmen, Arabian, Caspian, Qarebagh and Kurd. There are also subspecies such as Darreshouri and Yamout.
Until 60 years ago and before today’s modernized lifestyles, horses lived in their indigenous habitats safely and were immune from crossbreeding.
As racing became more and more popular, Iranians started crossbreeding horses to produce strains which were more adapted for competition. The move endangered their purity, though. Thoroughbreds such as Turkmen and Arabian were crossed to improve their racing capacities.

Over 360 Iranian geographical and luminaries website names will come with ’.Asia’.
Siavash Shahshahani, who is in charge of registering ’.ir’ domains in Iran, further stated that after China and Thailand, Iran has earmarked the highest number of .Asia domain on a reserved list, ISNA reported.
He explained that presently only businesses are allowed to register website addresses ending with .Asia suffix. He pointed out that the registration which started on Tuesday would continue for several months. General public will be allowed to bid from February, he added.
The official elaborated that most of the countries interested in registering for .Asia domain are from South Asia since information dissemination about this was poor in West Asia, he underlined.
Work to create the .Asia domain began in 2000. The DotAsia Organization won official approval to set up the domain in mid-October 2006 and the first .Asia domains should go live on the internet in March 2008.
Unlike other administrators of net domains, the DotAsia Registry plans to use an auction to determine who gets domains wanted by more than one organization. The highest bidder will win the right to the contested name.
The geographical reach of the .Asia domain extends from Australia to the Middle East. In all, 20 organizations that run country code domains have signed up to back the .Asia registry.
The .Asia domain is the second regional domain to go live following the European .eu suffix which started selling in April 2006. Other regional domains for Africa and Latin America are expected to follow.

Non-oil exports witnessed a growth of 7.5 percent in volume and 8.6 percent in value during March-September.
According to the Public Relations Office of Iran’s Customs Administration, about 15.5 million tons of commodities valued at $7 billion were exported during the period compared to 14.4 million tons of goods costing $6.5 billion shipped overseas during the same period of the previous year, Fars news agency reported.
Of this figure, $26.6 million were in form of carry-on-luggage trade and $165 million pertained to transactions at border markets.
Also gas liquids accounted for $2.9 billion of the total non-oil exports. Liquid propane and butane costing $816.9 million accounted for 11.5 percent of the total export, followed by pistachio (4.9 percent) and other odorous hydrocarbons (3.8 percent).
The highest volume of Iran’s export during the period was to the UAE to which 2.4 million tons of commodities worth $1 billion were exported.
Iraq with $794 million, China with $561 million, Japan with $424 million and India with $340 ranked second to fifth respectively.
This is while, about 20.4 million tons of commodities worth $21.3 billion were imported during March-Sept. Gasoline was the main imported item. About $1.4 billion worth of gasoline were imported during the period, accounting for 6.7 percent of the total import.

Iranians consume about 1.9 million tons of sugar per year.

Sugar imported by the government this year can meet domestic demand for six years, a lawmaker criticized.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mohammad Hosseini, also a member of Majlis Food Industries Faction, put sugar production at 1.4 million tons and domestic demand at about 1.9 million tons per year.
“But the government has imported over three million tons which can meet domestic requirement for six years.“
He called for the removal of state monopoly on sale of raw material needed for production of sugar, Fars news agency reported.
If this happens, sugar mills would be able to purchase raw materials themselves and the current crisis in the industry would be removed.
Chairman of Board of Directors of Association of Sugar Mill also earlier warned that sugar industry is grappling with its biggest crisis in the past 110 years.
Alireza Ashraf told IRNA that unchecked sugar imports have triggered a crisis--unprecedented in over one century--for the industry.

Private mass constructors are entitled to loans.

Housing and Urban Development Ministry and six state banks have reached an agreement to extend banking facilities to non-governmental building constructors.
The deal was signed by Housing Minister Mohammad Saeedikia and managing directors of Melli, Mellat, Tejarat, Saderat, Refah Kargaran and Maskan banks, IRIB reported.
Under the agreement, the six banks will grant a total 100 trillion rials in loans to non-governmental building constructors including private, cooperatives, public institutions and associations.
The loans would be available for constructing rental residential units, developing lands for construction, building houses in old quarters or with modern technologies, mass construction with domestic or foreign investments as well as renovation of homes in rural areas.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the minister said on Wednesday that the 100 trillion rials are insufficient for meeting the demand for constructing 1.5 million residential units this year. “These loans can suffice for building 500,000 to 600,000 houses,“ he noted.