On December 29, 2017, Posted by admin , In News, By Banking and insurance in Iran,emerging market,Foreign relations of Iran,invest in iran,investing opportunities,investment opportunity,iran,Iran banks seal deal to get ‘unlimited funds’ from Russia,sanctions against Iran , With No Comments
Four Iranian banks have signed an agreement with the Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR) which enables them to receive “unlimited funds” over development projects in the country.
Iran says four of its banks have signed an agreement with the Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR) to provide “unlimited funds” for development projects to be carried out by domestic and international contractors in the Islamic Republic.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in a statement said the agreement had been signed between the EXIAR and Bank Sepah, the Export Development Bank of Iran, Bank Parsian and Bank Pasargad.
This followed a basic agreement that the four banks and EXIAR had signed earlier in mid-October, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.
Iran had earlier been able to seal similar deals with several European as well as Asian financial institutions.
In late September, Austria’s Oberbank signed a major finance deal with over a dozen Iranian banks based on which it would provide €1 billion in credits to the country’s companies that invest in the Iranian economy.
Oberbank’s initiative – that was seen in Tehran as the first of its kind in many years – was followed on the same day by a similar agreement between Denmark’s Danske Bank and several Iranian banks.
Accordingly, Danske Bank would allocate a credit line of €500 million for investments by Danish businesses in Iran.
On a related front, France’s state investment bank Bpifrance (BPI) announced also in September that it planned to provide funds to French companies that invest in the Iranian economy from next year.
BPI France CEO Nicolas Dufourcq was quoted by media as telling reporters that his bank would grant up to €500 million ($598 million) in annual credits to companies that venture into the Iranian market.
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Iran Khodro (IKCO) has opened a production line for two new car models, including one jointly produced by France’s Peugeot SPA.
The first Peugeot 207 and Dena Plus sedans rolled off the production line near Tehran on Saturday during a ceremony attended by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, Iranian news agencies reported.
Dena Plus is an upgraded version of the Dena sedan which Iran Khodro claims offers better safety, having two more airbags.
Peugeot 207 is the same as the Peugeot 207i, with a cargo compartment added to it. Iran Khodro produced about 15,000-20,000 units of Peugeot 207i in 2011 before production stopped the next year when Iran came under intensified Western sanctions.
The model, a supermini produced from 2006 to 2014, is based on the platform of the predecessor model, Peugeot 206, which was replaced by the Peugeot 208 in 2012.
PSA has signed production deals worth 700 million euros with Iran, while Renault has announced a new plant investment to increase its production capacity in Iran to 350,000 vehicles a year.
The French company has yet to start production of the Peugeot 2008 in Iran despite the launch of an assembly line in the country back in March.
As per the joint venture called the Iran Khodro Automobiles Peugeot (IKAP), 70% of parts for Peugeot 2008 will be supplied by Iranian manufacturers. The car’s body will also be produced by an IKCO subsidiary.
The deal requires production of more than 30,000 units this year but only four Peugeot 2008s have been produced so far, with IKCO having to import pre-owned cars for delivery from France.
The production line of Peugeot 2008 at Iran Khodro which began on May 2, 2017Since the lifting of sanctions in January 2016, French automakers have piled into Iran’s resurgent market, helping turn around a period of slipping sales which occurred when they left the country in 2012.
On Saturday, Fars news agency cited data released by Renault as showing year-on-year growth of 54% in sales to Iran where the automaker sold 144,862 cars in the year up to November.
With US President Donald Trump having put the future of the landmark nuclear deal in doubt, Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade officials have tried to give assurances that the new contracts with the French automakers were watertight.
Both Renault and Peugeot withdrew from Iran in 2012 when the country came under the Western sanctions.
Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohsen Salehinia said last month he was optimistic about foreign companies holding their ground in case the Americans toughened their measures against Iran.
TEHRAN, Jan. 07 (MNA) – The head of the national union of Iran’s agricultural Products reported that Iraq continues to ban the import of some crops from Iran, stressing the need for economic diplomacy to resolve the issue.
Seyed Reza Nourani told Mehr News Agency on Sunday “the Iraqi government has now banned the entry of some Iranian crops including lettuce, turnips, beets, cabbage and cauliflower into its country,” adding that the ban has been in place since last week.
Referring to the fact that this is not the first time the Iraqi government bans crops import from Iran, he added "the Iraqi government has previously banned importing some other products from Iran including watermelons, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, and so on.”
Nourian stressed the need for resolving the issue saying “unfortunately, we are always faced with a new issue in our trade with Iraq,” adding that the Iraqi government has not elaborated on the ban yet.
He pointed out that these bans have so far hurt the Iranian farmers severely.
In response to a question regarding the extent of Iran’s agricultural export to Iraq, the head of the national union of Iran’s agricultural products said that Iraq is one of major markets for Iranian crops while he stressed that Iraq cannot easily replace Iran with another country in securing its agricultural products.
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Iranian Parliament Research Center:
TEHRAN, Jan. 07 (MNA) – In its latest report, Iranian Parliament Research Center put the country’s e economic growth in the current year at 4.1 percent.
In addition, the Center put the inflation rate in the current year (to end March 20, 2018) at 10.5%.
Turning to the situation of tax income, economic growth oil price and inflation rate, the Center added, “change of main factors affecting tax incomes will determine the rate of collections in coming years.”
Also, estimates indicate that the annual inflation rate will hit from nine percent in the past Iranian calendar year in 1395 (ended March 20, 2017) to 10.5 percent in the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (to end March 20, 2018).
In the same direction, the oil export price will hit from $44.2 in the past Iranian calendar year to $55 in the current Iranian year in 1396 (to end March 20, 2018).
According to the Monetary and Banking Research Center, probable increase of oil price in the coming year can help considerable growth of imports volume to the tax resources of the coming year due to the direct effectiveness of the rate of oil incomes on the tax income, the report added.
With regard to the inflation, considerable growth in general level of prices in the next Iranian calendar year is predicted higher than the inflation rate in the past Iranian calendar year, the issue of which can have a positive growth on the growth of collection of tax incomes in the coming year than the current year, the Center concluded.
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TEHRAN, Jan. 07 (MNA) – About $1.5 billion worth of nonoil products was exported from East Azarbaijan province to various countries of the world in the nine months of the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (from March 21 to Dec. 22).
The Director General of East Azarbaijan province Industry, Mine and Trade Organization Hossein Nejati made the above remark, saying, “the aforementioned volume of products was exported to about 101 world countries in the same period.”
He put the value of products exported from East Azarbaijan province to other countries at about $200 million, showing a considerable hike as compared to the same period of last year.
Nejati also put the value of products exported from this province in the nine months of the past Iranian calendar year (from March 20 to Dec. 22, 2016) at about $1.3 billion, showing a considerable growth as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the director general added, “of total products exported to overseas from this province, 45.5 percent of which was industrial products while the rest products were related to the petrochemical, agricultural, carpet, handicrafts and metal industries.”
Export of products from customs offices of the province in the past nine months was negative while export of products from provincial customs offices in the current year turned positive, he emphasized.
The provincial products have mainly exported to the neighboring countries of Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Russia, Pakistan, Italy and Bulgaria, Nejati concluded.
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TEHRAN, Jan. 06 (MNA) – An official from Iran’s railways organization said on Saturday that the third freight train has left China for Iran and will arrive in Tehran later this week.
Seyed Mostafa Davoodi from Iran Railway Company said that Iran has already been negotiating with neighboring and regional countries to develop international transit corridors, and said the third freight train from Xi'an province in western China will arrive in Iran later this week, adding that it is carrying 41 wagons.
He added that multilateral agreements have been concluded with China, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the origin and destination of the travel, as well as the tariff rate.
China is trying to revive the old Silk Road and Iran’s government has welcomed the project with the aim of turning the country in an Eurasian trade hub. The first freight train to travel the old silk road arrived in Iran in February 2016.
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TEHRAN, Jan. 06 (MNA) – Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamidreza Araghi said that the contract to export Iran’s gas to Georgia is still being negotiated between private sector, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran.
“The contract for the export of gas to Georgia has not been ruled out yet and if the agreements get finalized, the private sector will export Iranian gas to Georgia through Armenia,” said Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamidreza Araghi.
Mr. Araghi who also serves as Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for Gas Affairs made the remarks on Saturday.
“Iran’s geographic conditions are fit to make it possible to export gas to many countries, including Georgia, but these exports should be made through the soil of Armenia,” asserted the official.
He recounted that to put the plan into practice and finalize the deal there are many requirements to be met including the agreement with Armenia, export infrastructures, and reasonable price.
“If Iran, Armenia, and Georgia agree on gas deal, the private sector should buy gas from Iran and pay the price for swapping gas between Iran and Armenia to get gas enter Georgia,” he said.
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TEHRAN, Jan. 06 (MNA) – Chairman of Tehran Chamber of Commerce Masoud Khansari said that the Chinese have declared money laundering to be the reason for closing the bank accounts of Iranians in China and announced that the problem will be discussed with the foreign minister in a meeting.
Masoud Khansari told Mehr News about the blocking of bank accounts of established Iranian companies in China by the Chinese banks and said “Chinese banks claim that the main reason for blocking the bank accounts of Iranian companies and businessmen is money laundering and providing financial support for terrorists. Investigations are being made in this regard.”
“In the following week, we will hold a meeting with Foreign Minister Zarif and his deputy where we will discuss and investigate this problem,” Chairman of Tehran chamber of commerce asserted.
He referred to the Chinese policy change which omitted Iran from the Silk Road Project and added “Iran must adopt a more active diplomacy with respect to this issue.”
Chinese banks had formerly blocked the bank accounts of some Iranian students. Recently, however, some businessmen received advanced warnings from Chinese banks about the closing of their bank accounts. Such measures indicate a policy change in China toward Iran that might risk the future of bilateral commercial deals.
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TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) – The Director General of Mazandaran province Ports and Maritime Organization Mohammad-Taghi Anzanpour said that goods export from Noshahr Port experienced a considerable 68 percent hike in the nine months of the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (from March 21 to Dec. 22) as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.
Turning to the 68% growth of goods export from Noshahr Port, he added, “the consignment will be shipped to Russia’s Astrakhan Port which includes 754 apple concentrate pallets and one date container as weigh as 901 tons at large.”
The chief executive of Ports and Maritime Organization (MPO) has emphasized on taking advantage of potentials and capacities of the port for the promotion of export, he said, adding, “all officials and personnel of Ports and Maritime Organization in Mazandaran Province try their utmost efforts to pave suitable ways for merchants and goods owners with the aim of spurring export in this port.”
In conclusion, the manager of Noshahr Port Special Economic Zone pointed to the main goods exported from Noshahr Port to the Caspian Sea littoral states as follows: livestock and agricultural products including apple puree and concentrate, food products such as tomato paste and dried nuts as well as minerals and construction materials.
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TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) – An Iranian and French Training Workshop on HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) in the oil industry will be held in Tehran on Jan. 29-30, 2018.
The Iranian-French Tutorial Workshop will be held in the presence of France’s most prestigious oil and gas majors in the field of HSE in cooperation with HSE Department and Commercial – International Affairs Deputy Office of the Oil Ministry.
Focusing on salient status of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) in the prevention of damages and management of physical assets, strengthening culture of HSE based on behavior, managing eruption risk of oil and gas wells and also clarifying new environmental issues in the oil industry have been cited as the main topics of discussion in this tutorial workshop.
The training workshop will be held in English and it is expected that senior managers and experts of France’s TOTAL & IFP oil majors as well as experts of other oil and gas companies would deliver separate speeches in this workshop.
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Deputy min. of industry:
TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) – Export of saffron in South Khorasan province increased 22 percent in the eight months of the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (from March 21 to Nov. 22) as compared to the same period last year.
Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade for Exports Affairs Mojtaba Khosrotaj made the remark on Wednesday night saying, “effective steps have been taken in the field of solving unemployment problem in the country.”
Speaking in a ceremony to honor exemplary exporters of South Khorasan Province, he pointed to the generation of employment in the country and added, “once promotion of export is ignored, employment opportunities cannot be generated in this sector.”
All countries in the world focus on promoting export in national development, he said, adding, “we believe that promotion of export requires planning accurately.”
He, who is the head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI), called on the government to remove barriers facing exporters of the country and said, “imposition of import and export rules and regulations, payment of facilities to economic activists and provision of suitable ways for constructive competition in export field are the main task of the government which should be taken into serious consideration.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Khosrotaj called for setting up representative office in other countries in order to promote export activities.
He put the number of commercial envoys in other countries at 20 and said, “establishing representative office in other countries can help exporters to eye target markets suitably.”
Turning to the high export capacities and potentials in South Khorasan Province, he said, “tile and ceramics export in the country has witnessed a considerable six percent growth in the current year (to end March 20, 2018) as compared to a year before.”
The deputy minister once again urged the respected government to take effective steps in the field of supporting export activists and domestic exporters to spur production and generate more employment opportunities in the country.
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Minister of Industry:
TEHRAN, Jan. 03 (MNA) – Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Ali Shariatmadari said that business profit will likely be stabilized between 2 and 5 years.
Shariatmadari revealed on Tuesday the creation of mechanism for promoting business ties with Africa in near future.
Speaking in a meeting of Council of Dialogue between Public and Private Sector on the promotion of trade and business relations with Africa, he said, “it is logical to create diversification in export markets and there are certainly abundant potentials in African markets especially in the current situation.”
“I suggest to set up a Working Group for the promotion of trade and business ties between the government and Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA). In addition, it is logical that four trade and business centers should be established in the field of supplying products to the target markets.”
To conclude his remarks, the minister of industry said, “in this regard, the ministry has taken effective steps in the field of stabilization of business profit minimum and maximum two and five years respectively.”
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Tehran (ISNA) – A new shipping route between Iran and Oman was launched on December 30.
The Khorramshahr-Sohar shipping route was launched in the presence of a Board member and deputy of Iranian Ports and Maritime organization for maritime affairs, governor of Khuzestan, Omani ambassador to Iran and a number of provincial officials.
With the inauguration of the shipping route, the export from Khorramshahr port to Oman was started and the traders, business people and producers can export commercial shipments through Khorramshahr Port to Sohar Port and on other hand unload the custom goods in Khorramshahr.
The first shipping route between Iran and Oman was put into service in April 2015, connecting the port of Bandar Abbas with the port of Sohar.
“The shipping route will pave the way for export of agricultural, petrochemical and protein products and building materials to Oman,” the Board member and deputy of Iranian Ports and Maritime organization for maritime affairs Hadi Haghshenas said on the sideline of the inauguration ceremony.
Omani ambassador to Iran Saud bin Ahmad Khalid al-Barwani also said that the inauguration of the shipping route will increase the trade volume between Iran and Oman.
“The opening of Khorramshahr-Sohar shipping route will pave the way for more economic cooperation between the two countries and Oman is willing to launch more shipping route with other Iranian ports,” he added.
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Tehran (ISNA) – According to the latest statistics, Iran has exported more than $ 31 billion during the last 9 months.
From March 21 to December 21, various products worth more than $ 31 billion were exported by Iran.
Iran’s main export products during the period were included gas condensates ($ 5.98 billion), liquefied propane ($ 1.68 billion), methanol ($ 835 million), light oils and other products including gasoline ($ 810 million) and hematite iron ore ($ 756 million).
The main importers of Iranian products during the period were included China ($ 6.527 billion), Iraq ($ 4.628 billion), the United Arab Emirates ($ 4.458 billion), South Korea ($ 3.11 billion) and Afghanistan ($ 2.4 billion).
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Society
30 Iranians Missing as 2 Vessels Collide Off East China coast
TEHRAN (FNA)- Several crew members, including 30 Iranians and two Bengalese, have gone missing after two vessels collided off China's East Coast, Chinese Ministry of Transport announced on Sunday.
The collision, between a Panama-registered oil tanker and a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, occurred in waters about 160 sea miles east of the Yangtze River's estuary Saturday night, the ministry said.
The 32 missing crew members were all from the oil tanker. All the 21 crew members on the bulk freighter, all Chinese nationals, have been rescued, according to the ministry.
Chinese maritime authorities have dispatched eight vessels for search and rescue. After the coordination of China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, the Republic of Korea has dispatched a coastguard ship and a fixed-wing aircraft to assist in the search and rescue.
Meantime, Iranian Oil Ministry Spokesperson announced that the affected oil tanker belonged to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and it was carrying condensates for a South Korean company.
Most of the crew of the oil tanker were Iranians and the oil tanker had been insured by a reputable foreign company.
Economy
Refinery of South Pars Phases 22-24 Nearly Complete
TEHRAN (FNA)- Construction of a gas refinery belonging to phases 22 to 24 of the supergiant South Pars Gas Field has made 91% progress, operator of the phases' development project said.
Farhad Izadjou said the first gas sweetening train of the refinery will come online by late March 2018 and the other trains will become operational by August.
He said the offshore platforms of the phases will be installed at their designated spots in the Persian Gulf by late-March, adding the refinery will be fed by the gas recovered from phases 6 to 8 of the field that Iran shares with Qatar.
The phases are being developed for production of 56.6 million cubic meters/day of rich gas, 75,000 barrels/day of gas condensate, and 400 tons/day of sulfur.
Moreover, an annual production of 105 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and a million tons of ethane has been envisaged in developing the phases for feeding petrochemical plants.
TEHRAN (FNA)- The US Treasury Department in continuation of its anti-Iran policies imposed fresh sanctions on five Iranian firms for their alleged involvement in the country’s missile development program.
Shahid Kharrazi Industries, Shahid Sani’khani Industries, Shahid Moqaddam Industries, Shahid Eslami Research Center and Shahid Shoushtari Industries have been blacklisted under the US Executive Order 13382.
As a result of the move, all the assets of the institutes in the US will be blocked and the US nationals will be banned from making deals with them.
Moreover, the US Treasury Department announced that other countries’ individuals and institutes transacting with the five Iranian institutes will face the same risk.
This is while the US has been committed under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to avoid any act contradictory to the terms of the deal. However, they have always been seeking to expand the list of the so-called non-nuclear sanctions.
While campaigning for White House, Trump promised to rip up the deal but he has so far failed to win a global consensus against Iran and the nuclear deal.
