Economy

Annual fishery exports to reach $500mn (MNA – 2 May 2017)

An official at Iran Fisheries Organization announced that export of 450 to 500 million dollars of fisheries products has been targeted for the present Iranian year (began March 21).

Isa Golshahi, Iran Fisheries Organization’s Director General for Quality Improvement, said nearly 600 tons of fishery products were shipped to Russia in the first quarter of 2017 equal to the overall figure for the earlier year.

“Volume of fisheries exports to the Eurasian country is rapidly growing,” underlined the official.

Golshahi went on to enumerate reasons behind the rise in exports to Russia one being that Iranian producers have realized demands of the Russian market and also that businessmen are now familiar with customs and trade laws and regulations; “what’s more, the procedures for obtaining health licenses have become much less time-consuming.”

Iran Air tech-experts head to France to test purchased planes (IRNA – 2 May 2017)

A group of experts from Iranian national flag-carrier airline ‘Iran Air’ left Tehran for France on Tuesday to test the ATR aircraft expected to join Iran’s passenger air fleet soon.

Iran Air Chairman Farhad Parvaresh had earlier told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that the first ATR 72-600 is scheduled to be delivered to Iran in two weeks.
The ATR72-600 passenger planes are suitable for short flights and they will be used to improve small airports and to making perfect use of the available airports, he added.
Since the delivery of the purchased ATR planes, based on the agreement, has been delayed the Iranian pilots have been sent to France to do the required tests, Parvaresh said.
Based on the agreement, Iran is to buy 20 ATR 72-600 valued at 400 million dollars to cover its short distance flights.

 

International

Iran to host 24th WWER Regulators Forum (IRNA – 2 May 2017)

The 24th annual meeting of the Forum of State Nuclear Safety Authorities of the Countries Operating WWER Type Reactors (WWER Regulators’ Forum) will be held in Isfahan, central Iran, from May 2-3 with the participation of 12 member states.

Iran’s Nuclear Safety Forum will host the meeting which is to be attended for the first time by representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Water-Water Energetic Reactor (WWER) Forum was established in 1993 to foster enhancement of the nuclear safety and radiation protection in the interested countries through utilization of the collective experience, information exchange and consolidation of efforts of the national nuclear safety authorities to study safety problems and improve regulatory policies and practices.
The forum is held annually in one of the countries operating WWER type reactors.

Two Iranian Banks Opening Munich Branch (Financial Tribune – 2 May 2017)

Two Iranian private banks are to open branches in Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria, which will greatly enhance the prospect of Iran-German financial interactions, the deputy economy minister for economic affairs and media, energy and technology announced.

“Some Iranian lenders have filed applications to open branches in Bavaria a year and a half ago and after conducting the necessary assessment, we approved the requests of Middle East Bank and Sina Bank,” Markus Wittmann also said in response to a question by Financial Tribune at a news conference on Monday.

According to Wittmann, Middle East Bank will officially receive its operation license this summer and Sina is expected to get it either this year or early next year.

Earlier in his speech to an Iran-Bavaria business gathering hosted by Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Wittmann referred to persisting banking difficulties preventing the two countries from realizing their full business potential.

 

 

Iran paving way for boosting trade with Pakistan (IRNA – 2 May 2017)

In an interview with IRNA, Zubair Tufail said that signing of Banking and Payment Arrangement (BPA) between central banks of Iran and Pakistan which recently occurred in Tehran, is a big achievement and it is just one of the outcomes of the JCPOA (the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and P5+1).
He added that lack of banking channel was the major reason behind low Pakistan-Iran trade volumes.
The top businessman noted that the removal of sanctions from Iran would also help boosting the trade between Iran and Pakistan.

National

Presidential candidate: Iranian youth very capable (IRNA – 2 May 2017)

The Iranian youth are highly capable and the practiced and experienced ones must be in charge, said Mostafa Mirsalim, a candidate of the upcoming Iranian presidential elections in a campaign address Monday evening.

The main points of his speech are as follow:

1. Migration to big cities is a matter of concern.
2. Sympathy and accord between the government and people are necessary for solving the problems.
3. The administration should be honest to people and not hide the problems and deficiencies.
4. Workers and teachers should be as soon as possible provided with decent affordable housing.
5. Social security also needs to improve.