NEW DELHI, India, March 11--India indicated on Friday it will not stop its economic dealings with Iran because of US ’concerns’ and said it hoped issues between these countries would be resolved before New Delhi concludes gas import agreements with Tehran, PTI said.
“We hope they (US) can resolve issues with Iran by the time we are able to resolve our contractual issues (of gas imports),“ Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told a meeting of former diplomats here.
US Ambassador to India reportedly ’warned’ New Delhi of the ’consequences’ of dealing with Iran, a country the US administration classifies as a ’rogue state’.
Later talking to reporters on sidelines of a CII conference, Aiyar said, “I can confirm that US Ambassador to India David Mulford did meet me exactly a month ago... We have noted what US concerns are and I think US is well aware of what our energy requirements are. We are sensitive to each other’s requirement.“
India, which is scouting around the world for oil and gas to meet its growing energy needs, has tied-up imports of 7.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum from Iran from 2010 and is negotiating imports of natural gas through an onland pipeline passing through Pakistan.
“We need 100 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of natural gas by 2025. Can America supply us that? I am only looking at securing energy security for the country,“ he said.

TEHRAN, March 11--A senior Management and Planning Organization (MPO) official said here on Friday that the government is satisfied with the way the Seventh Parliament handled the issue of ratifying the budget bill, stressing that the Khatami administration would approve of most of the parliamentary amendments.
Mohammad Kordbachcheh, MPO director general for macroeconomic affairs, told Mehr news agency that the government has managed to remove the parliamentary concerns about the budget bill.
He, however, said the government is increasingly worried about the prospect of tax revenues not being realized during the March 2005-2006 period given the fact that the lawmakers have projected more income from taxes levied on state companies.
He praised the parliament for increasing the budget for charity affairs as well as for education, health and rehabilitation activities.
Kordbachcheh said the parliament has on the whole changed three percent of the government-proposed budget bill.
He said the government failed to realize 20 trillion rials of projected revenues for the year to March, stressing that the Khatami administration would certainly not borrow from the Central Bank of Iran.
The official said the government is expected to face a shortage of funds for gasoline imports in the year to March 2006. “If gasoline consumption continues to grow in the coming months, the government would face a shortage of funds next year,“ he said.

ZANJAN, March 11--United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is implementing several projects worth a total of six million dollars in Iran, said the FAO country director in this northwestern city.
According to ISNA, Dr. Abdur Rashid further said during his visit to Zanjan to become acquainted with the challenges facing the farmers in this cold area that FAO-sponsored projects could also be implemented in this province given its strategic importance to the western Iran’s agriculture economy.
He said FAO is implementing 25 agro projects in Iran in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad.
The FAO official discussed a range of issues including the possibility of further promoting irrigated farming as well as an increase in the use of genetically-modified seeds with local agricultural authorities.
Environmental groups in Iran are strongly against the use of genetically-modified seeds.
The Department of Environment (DoE), the main environmental body, has voiced angry opposition to plans by agriculture officials to bring 200,000 hectares under cultivation of GM rice.
Iran has announced plans for increasing 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.

Privatization Organization has to offer shares of state companies on the stock market even at a time when the market is down.

TEHRAN, March 11--More than 421 million shares will be offered at the stock market by next Friday, reported ILNA.
The shares belong to six major state companies and would be offered in bulks.
Some 280.2 million shares of North Cement, Mashinsazi Arak and Sazeh Pouyesh companies would be released on Saturday.
State Privatization Organization would be in charge of offering shares of North Cement Company, while Bank Melli of Iran and Ezzam Company would take care of the rest.
Privatization Organization has to offer shares of state companies on the stock market even at a time when the market is down due to several factors, including the nuclear controversy.
Mir Ali Ashraf Abdollah-Pouri Hosseini, who heads the organization, said recently the organization was bound by the law to offer 50 trillion rials worth of shares by March, stressing that the initiative coincided with a continuous fall in indices starting last September.
He expressed hope that a major portion of privatization targets for the year to March 2005 would be achieved in the next two weeks.
Experts are skeptical over the prospect of the government’s privatization objectives being realized in such a short period of time in light of the numerous challenges the stock market has faced in recent months.
Prices failed to recover on Wednesday from their several months’ lows despite pledges by the country’s economic officials to stop the descending trend.

TEHRAN, March 11--Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor said here on Friday that the parliament must inevitably set a certain foreign exchange parity rate against the national currency, stressing that the government would otherwise not be able to come up with an estimate on its revenues in the year to March 2006.
Ebrahim Sheibani told ILNA that the budget law for the next Iranian year, which will commence on March 20, would certainly have to have the foreign exchange parity rate.
“We need to estimate the government’s revenues for next year and need to multiply the oil income with a certain figure for foreign exchange parity rate,“ he said, adding that the parliament cannot refrain from setting a definite parity rate for US dollar against the rial.
Earlier, a conservative lawmaker predicted that inflation will go up in the year to March 2006 if fixed parity rates are avoided for the US dollar in the budget bill for the next Iranian year.
Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moqaddam, an MP from Tehran, told lawmakers that the increase in the budget comes amid reports that targets set in the budget bill for the previous years did not materialize.
He reminded his colleagues of their pledges to bring inflation under control.

TEHRAN, March 11--A senior economic expert said here on Friday that the worsening budget deficits are rooted chiefly in the predominant political outlook of the country’s officials on financial issues, stressing that the government renders public services without hoping to have the costs returned.
“Budget deficit in Iran is largely rooted in the political economy,“ said Massoud Nili, a distinguished professor of economics at Sharif Industrial University.
The expert further noted that the government is responsible for very many economic activities on which it spends a lot of money and gets nothing in return. “Budget deficits would not stop as long as the government renders free services to the people,“ he said, adding that the traditional budgeting system is not the root cause of budget deficits.
Nili said the vast contradictions in the decisions of economic bodies also contribute to budget deficits in Iran, stressing that economic decisions are mostly politically-motivated.
“When a (macroeconomic) decision lacks economic logic, it will certainly result in worsening the budget deficit,“ he analyzed.
The government would have to withdraw $4.7 billion from the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund to offset huge budget deficit that would follow the parliamentary decision to keep prices of major consumer goods unchanged during the March 2005-2006 fiscal year.
Experts keep warning that a multibillion-dollar withdrawal from the fund would lead to a further rise in inflation.
To strong opposition from the conservative-dominated Parliament, the Khatami administration has being trying to weaken the rial to offset its budget deficit following the failure to encourage car imports in the past 12 months.

TEHRAN, March 11--Some 502,000 barrels of gas condensate have been exported so far from the five phases of South Pars development project increasing the total condensate exports from the gas field to more than 86 million barrels (mb), according to Petroenergy Information Network.
The Public Relations Department of Pars Oil and Gas Company reported that the most recent consignment of condensate was exported from Pars export dock in Asalouyeh.
The first five phase of South Pars gas field has so far yielded more than 53.663 billion cu. m. of gas.
The said phases have also produced 256,000 tons sulfur, which has been loaded and exported in 16 consignments.
The report added that phases 1 through 5 of South Pars gas field development project produce 125 million cu. m. gas, 200,000 barrels gas condensate and 1,000 tons sulfur per day.
Each phase of the gas field brings in an average annual revenue of $1.5 billion.

TEHRAN, March 11--A presidential aide said here on Friday that Iran is not planning to oppose a possible decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) not to cut supply, stating, however, that the Islamic state favors a decrease in supply to keep prices high.
Majid Abbaspour, who advises President Mohammad Khatami on energy affairs, told ILNA that during the Isfahan meeting next week of OPEC officials, Iran would not express its opposition merely because ’it is hosting the event and wants to keep up the good interaction with other member-states’.
He called on OPEC member-states not to rush into making a decision about declining or increasing production, saying price indices have to be taken into full consideration at the Isfahan meeting.
The official further said that OPEC member-states are in a position to regulate prices given that non-OPEC oil producers are producing at full capacity.
“Non-OPEC countries cannot produce anymore oil at this juncture,“ he said, adding that the OPEC member-states must work to keep concerns high on the part of the American and European consumers over the prospects of oil prices going further up.
Iran’s light crude oil recorded a three-decade high level this week and was traded 12 cents higher at $44.7 a barrel Wednesday compared to the prices on Tuesday.
Iran’s heavy crude also rose by 36 cents to reach $42.6 per barrel. The average price of Iran’s crude oil reached $43.43 a barrel.
Member states of OPEC have agreed that during their Isfahan meeting they will not increase supply--a decision that pushed prices to nearly $54 this week.
Iranian, Saudi, Algerian, Venezuelan and Qatari oil officials announced recently that the oil market is faced with an oversupply at present and that there is no need to increase supply.

Iran has achieved good success in the production of farm produce and Ankara is interested in benefiting from the experience.

TEHRAN, March 11--Turkish Ambassador to Iran Halit Bozkur Aran and Minister of Agriculture Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati here on Thursday stressed the need to expand cooperation between the two countries in the agriculture sector, reported IRNA.
At the meeting, Hojjati called for exploring the common areas of cooperation between the two countries.
He hoped that with activation of the joint agricultural working committee, the two sides will forge closer ties in the sector.
For his part, Turkish ambassador said that Iran has achieved good success in the production of farm produce and Ankara is interested in benefiting from the experience.
He stressed that the visits of Turkish officials to Iran in recent years indicate the amicable relations between the two neighboring countries.
According to the latest figures, trade exchanges between Iran and Turkey reached $2.760 billion in 2004 showing a 15.3 percent growth in value compared to the exchanges for the previous year.
In 2003, Iran-Turkey trade exchanges were valued at over $2.394 billion.
Turkey’s National Statistics Organization reported that the country exported $75.287 million of goods to Iran while its imports from Iran for the month of December 2004 stood at $138 million.
In 2003, Turkey exported $83.438 million worth of goods to Iran and imported commodities valued at $159 million from its eastern neighbor.
Turkey’s total exports to Iran reached $803.187 million in 2004 indicating an increase of over 50.46 percent compared to the figure for the corresponding period in 2003.