TEHRAN, Feb. 12--A senior gas industry official said here on Saturday that talks on gas exports to the tiny Persian Gulf state of Kuwait have been finalized, stressing that the two countries would soon sign the deal.
Rokneddin Javadi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), told Fars news agency that although talks with Kuwait have produced positive results, Arab littoral states of the Persian Gulf are eager to meet their energy demands from other sources.
He said that the Kuwaitis are also involved in gas talks with Qatar, which shares the giant South Pars gas field with Iran.
The official said annual revenues from gas exports will reach two billion dollars by the end of fourth five-year development plan (2005-2010), stressing that Iran would begin extensive export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 2009.
Javadi said talks with India over gas exports to that country via a pipeline would start next week.
He said in light of positive signals coming from India as to constructing the gas pipeline, which would also supply gas to Pakistan, Iran would wait until negotiations lead to concrete results despite calls by Pakistani authorities to do the job without India.
Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said earlier this month that Iran and Pakistan are ready to go ahead with the gas pipeline project despite IndiaÕs skepticism.
Gas talks between Tehran and Islamabad are in progress, he said, stressing that a single pipeline could not have the capacity to transfer gas to both India and Pakistan.
Pakistani sources are hopeful that Tehran and Islamabad would finalize the gas deal during the upcoming visit to Iran of the Pakistani premier.
Tehran and New Delhi signed a multibillion-dollar deal earlier this year under which Iran would supply India 7.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually for 25 years. The deal also envisages a 20-percent stake for India in Yadavaran oilfield development project in Iran.

Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute seeks cooperation from Cuba, which is one of the worldÕs leading countries in terms of biotechnology, in its efforts to produce GM fishes.

TEHRAN, Feb. 12--Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute is planning to produce genetically modified (GM) fishes following its successful attempt to cultivate GM rice.
Behzad Qareh-Yazi, who heads the institute, told ISNA that the project is in its initial stages, stressing that it would take Iran a few years to be able to produce GM fishes.
The official said the institute would seek cooperation from Cuba, which is one of the worldÕs leading countries in terms of biotechnology, in its efforts to produce GM fishes.
He said Cuba has urged Iran to transfer the GM rice production technology to that country.
Qareh-Yazi said the GM rice project took Iran 12 years to yield crops.
Environmental groups are strongly against production of genetically modified food. The Department of Environment (DoE), the main environmental body, has voiced opposition to plans by agriculture officials to bring 200,000 hectares under cultivation of genetically modified rice.
Iran has announced plans to increase the area under cultivation of genetically modified rice in a bid to boost production with the help of nanotechnology.
However environmental activists say genetically modified rice would damage the environment, destroy traditional rice farming and cause health hazards.

TEHRAN, Feb. 12--A 500-megawatt power plant will be constructed in Sarakhs Special Economic Zone, northeast of Iran, in partnership with Austrian and Belgian companies, announced the zoneÕs managing director here on Saturday.
According to ISNA, Hassan Salari told reporters that another major venture with foreign collaboration is underway in the area.
ÒWe will soon sign an agreement with foreign parties on building a steel mill in Sarakhs Special Economic Zone,Ó he said, adding that a multibillion-rial silk project is also under study.
He said the government is planning huge investment in Sarakhs, which he said is of strategic importance in view of its geographical position. ÒSarakhs is IranÕs gateway to the East,Ó he said, stressing that the project to build state-controlled malls in the zone has now been completed.
Salari, however, criticized the national railways for its failure to complete the vital rail link between the zone and the nationwide rail network.
He further called on the parliamentÕs economic commission to authorize foreign banks to operate in Sarakhs Special Economic Zone.

TEHRAN, Feb. 12--Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Seyyed Safdar Hosseini rejected reports that the Tehran Stock Exchange management would need a reshuffle if the TSE performance were to improve, stressing that the present managers are doing their jobs properly.
ÒThe present TSE management is professional and has so far done its best,Ó he said, blaming the falling indices on what he called was the nascent capital market which still has a long way to go. Pointing out that the capital market reacts sharply to decisions by the government and the parliament, the minister called for paying more attention to the impacts of certain economic decisions on the indices.
ÒThe government and the parliament must completely consider developments in the capital market before making any economic decision,Ó he said, stressing that the capital market represents the countryÕs financial credibility and, therefore, should not be impaired.
Amid increasing concerns about the rapidly falling indices, Tehran Stock Market (TSE) secretary general has expressed hope the capital market would grow 10-fold during the next five years.
Hossein Abdeh-Tabrizi anticipated a great leap forward in efforts to improve the national capital market within the next two years.
He said the upcoming presidential election and the new taxation law stipulating higher charges on stock market transactions have mostly affected the market.
Analysts say the parliamentary move earlier this year to keep prices of major consumer goods and services fixed during March 2005-2006 is chiefly to blame for the continuous decline in indices, which began with the escalation of IranÕs nuclear crisis last year.

President Mohammad Khatami presented the budget bill for the fiscal year 2005-06 to the Parliament on Sunday, Jan. 10. The budget for the next fiscal year is the last to be presented by the Khatami administration and the first one for the fourth five-year development plan (2005-2010). The president will leave the office on August 1, ending two terms of his reformist government which won landslide in the 1997 and 2001 presidential elections.
The total budget for fiscal year 2005-06 has increased by 30.5 percent compared to the figures for the year to March 2005, reaching 1,546 trillion rials ($175.6 billion).
The main economic objectives of the government, as laid down in the budget bill, were liberalizing the economy, preparing the ground for growth and development of foreign and domestic investments and channeling capital to productive activities.
Jamshid Pajouyan, an economist, told the Persian daily Qods that a 30- percent rise in budget expenditures and resources will certainly be inflationary. Other consequences depend on the performance of the outgoing and incoming governments, he added.
Pajouyan was also critical of the policymakers who have long ignored the views of economic experts in drafting the budget bills in recent years. Experts do not find a chance to exchange views during the budgeting procedure.
On attracting foreign investments, he stated that the country lacks the infrastructures needed for attracting foreign investors.
An MP from Tehran, Mohammad Khoshchehreh believes that the 30-percent rise resulted from a hike in funds allocated to state-owned companies.
ÒWe should wait to see how much of the increase will go to companies which have positive and productive role,Ó Khoshchehreh added.
However, the lawmaker said such huge growth in budget will imply inflationary burden.
A university lecturer, Salimifard, maintained that the growth in the next yearÕs budget indicates that the government has followed expansionary policy while drawing up the budget bill. This kind of policy, if correctly implemented, will boost economic activities.
A surge in demand can either boost production or increase the price, he stated.
If the Khatami administration managed to maintain balanced relations between demand and production, economic boom would come, he stated.
Otherwise, buoyant demand will step up the prices and the inflation rate will continue to go up, Salimifard concluded.
Recently, Central Bank of Iran Governor Ebrahim Sheibani announced the current inflation rate at 14.5 percent. Prices rose 15.6 percent in the year to March 2004.

TEHRAN, Feb. 12--A senior banking official said here on Saturday the parliamentary move to commit the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to supervise the open monetary markets would help strengthen the bankÕs supervisory role.
Mohammad Tabibian, who heads the High Banking Institute, stressed that the law could also regulate activities of non-governmental financial institutions.
This law helps the people invest their money in credit institutions with more peace of mind, he said, adding that the non-profit funds and financial establishments could enjoy greater stability in the wake of this law.
TabibianÕs remarks come just a day after a senior official of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance said it is rather impossible for the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to exercise complete supervision over the monetary markets, which was recently approved by the Parliament, stressing that the bank does not have the means to do so.
Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel submitted the law seeking greater state control over open monetary market to the chief executive on January 31, marking the enforcement of the long-sought initiative and the end to financial offenses committed by the so-called 'non-profit' funds and financial institutions.

TEHRAN, Feb. 12--The Fourth Iran-Ethiopia Economic Commission Meeting began here on Saturday, reported IRNA.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Iran's Minister of Agriculture Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati pointed to the agreements signed in the three earlier sessions, expressing hope that the fourth commission would pave the way for implementation of the agreements.
Hojjati recalled that the commercial agreement and the cooperation agreement between the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) and Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), the MoU on joint trade council, the agreement on supporting mutual investment and agricultural cooperation agreement were among the main accords signed by the two states in the earlier sessions.
The agreements on avoidance of double taxation, implementation of agricultural projects, radio and television cooperation and the amendment protocol to the commercial agreement are among the agreements to be signed in the fourth three-day commission session, he added.
Pointing to the agricultural potentials in Iran, Hojjati expressed Iran's readiness to share its related experiences with Ethiopia.
He was optimistic that cooperation in the technical, academic and exhibition fields would be expanded more than before.
The Ethiopian minister of finance and economic development, for his part, pointed to the positive trend of Tehran-Addis Ababa political relations.
He added that the Iran-Ethiopia trade transactions reached $33 million but the level of economic cooperation was not satisfactory.
He said that the fourth commission is a good opportunity for removing the problems facing bilateral cooperation.

IKIA will eventually be able to handle 40 million passengers a year, making Tehran a regional transport hub.

QAZVIN, Feb. 12--Minister of Roads and Transportation Mohammad Rahmati said here Friday that Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) will be officially inaugurated in May.
Speaking to IRNA, Rahmati added, "Presently, we have managed to detach the fate of the Turkish service firm TUV from Imam Khomeini International Airport."
He reiterated that the Ministry of Roads and Transportation has certain obligations to the TUV, based on which the ministry has forwarded a comprehensive report to the cabinet for consideration.
The minister added, "We would naturally adhere to any decision adopted by the 7th Majlis regarding the contract."
Rahmati announced that the reason for the delay in opening the airport is the onset of cold weather and the preoccupations of the Roads and Transportation Ministry.
The Armed Forces closed down Imam Khomeini International Airport on May 8, 2004, citing security concerns, just after it was officially inaugurated with the landing of a foreign aircraft.
Officials have said that the IKIA will eventually be able to handle 40 million passengers a year, making Tehran a regional transport hub.
The Armed Forces have however stressed that the airport will remain closed as long as 'security requirements' for carrying out flights from the facility are not met.
The dispute has beaten all the way up to the Iranian parliament, leading to the impeachment in October of the then transport minister Ahmad Khorram, whose ministry had awarded the IKIA contract to the Turks.
The parliament also passed an urgent bill, giving itself the prerogatives to scrap the two contracts if they are deemed a threat to national security.
The decision prompted the Government to postpone President Mohammad Khatami's planned visit to Turkey.

TEHRAN, Feb. 12--IranÕs ambassador to Azerbaijan Republic said here on Saturday that the value of bilateral trade has reached $600 million per annum, stressing that luggage trade accounts for $100 million of the total.
Afshar Soleymani told ILNA that Iran is seeking to boost trade ties with Azerbaijan, adding that the balance of trade is in favor of Iran.
Azerbaijan re-exports $200 million worth of goods to Iran each year, he said, adding that foodstuff, petrochemicals and machinery are among the exports from Iran to Azerbaijan.
The envoy said the two countries have little energy cooperation. He further said that Azerbaijan is engaged in energy cooperation mostly with Turkey, Japan and the United States.
He said Iran has a 10-percent stake in the project to export gas from Azerbaijan, expressing hope that the former Soviet republic would begin exports from 2007.
Soleymani said the giant car manufacturer Iran Khodro Diesel has signed a contract with Azeri officials on export of 200 buses and 800 Samand sedans to that country.
He said Iranian contractors are involved in several road and rail projects in Azerbaijan, including the two-million-dollar Baku-Astara rail project of which the Iranian party would build 40 kilometers.
The diplomat said Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia would soon hold a trilateral meeting to look into possible ways to reinforce the North-South Corridor.