Sustainable production, together with production of health foods, is one of the most important obligations of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad.

TEHRAN, March 11--A senior Agriculture Jihad Ministry official said here on Saturday that top on the ministry’s agenda is providing people with health foods, stressing that a specialized committee has been tasked to control use of pesticides and fertilizers in the agriculture sector.
Mohammad Reza Jahansouz, deputy agriculture minister, told ISNA that the ministry is planning to promote optimum use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, adding that such substances should not be used excessively.
“A robust (agricultural) production is one which avoids excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in order to prevent food insecurity and improve the status quo,“ he said, noting that the area under cultivation of organic crops is too low in Iran.
He said unhealthy food could cause cancer and other hazardous diseases.
“Sustainable production together with production of health foods is some of the most important obligations of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad,“ he said.
Experts say national food industry is capable of meeting the requirements for the World Trade Organization (WTO) membership.
Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) chief, Alinaqi Khamoushi, said earlier that the country’s food industries are potentially capable of developing significantly, stressing, however, that the slow pace of progress in the food processing industry is chiefly due to the eating habits of Iranians.
“People tend more to have traditional foods“ rather than processed ones, he said, adding that the rate of wastage in the agricultural sector is now a staggering 30 percent.
“If we can reduce the wastage and export processed foods, the industry can earn as much as $10 billion a year,“ he said, stressing that the most important advantage of Iran’s agricultural industry is the use of organic fertilizers rather than chemical ones.
Food industry exports are expected to reach $384 million in March 2006-2007.
Iran exports foods and drinks mainly to Germany, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Britain, United States, Canada, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and Italy.
Food and drink industries accounted for 18.8 percent of total industrial investments in Iran in the year to March 2005.
There are 11,053 food processing units across the country providing employment for over 276,000 people.

Meat import tariffs will be reduced to encourage imports and regulate market prices.

TEHRAN, March 11--The Parliament voted on Saturday for an end to the import of red and white meats by the state sector in the year to March 2007, reported Fars news agency.
The decision came as part of the lawmakers’ ongoing study of the March 2006-2007 budget bill.
The bill has tasked the government to support domestic production of red meat and fish powder by making funds available to producers and preventing imports.
Government organizations have also been ordered to procure meat requirements from domestic sources. In the event of a shortage, the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad will be in charge of issuing import permits for private companies.
Commerce Minister Seyyed Massoud Mir-Kazemi said earlier that rumors of bird flu have caused a huge rise in red meat prices.
The minister told reporters that the government has allowed the private sector to import red meat, stressing, however, that the state sector is not permitted to engage in the business.
He said meat import tariffs will decline in order to encourage imports and regulate market prices.
“When demand for a given product rises by 20 percent but supply remains unchanged, the price will naturally go up,“ he said, adding that the government is determined to ensure normalcy in the red meat market through imports.
“We will try to supply the red meat requirements of military centers from the Livestock Affairs Support Company’s stocks,“ to reduce demand, he said.
A senior official of red meat industry said earlier that export of livestock has also been banned in a bid to check record high prices.
Seyyed Kazem Samadi Eraqi, who heads the board of directors of Mutton Producers Association, said that more than 1.6 million heads of livestock were exported in the past 10 months.
“This figure only represents the number of livestock exported through legal channels,“ he said, adding that an exact figure on the number of livestock smuggled out of the country in the same period is not available.

TEHRAN, March 11--State Expediency Council secretary said Saturday that the judiciary’s record in fighting economic corruption has not been favorable, stressing that it is not known whether the problem lies with the judicial apparatus or somewhere else.
According to ISNA, Mohsen Rezaei told reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Specialized Training Course for Judges that it takes some time to study the performance of the judiciary in relation to economic corruption.
“However, I think the judiciary has failed to produce a successful record in the campaign against corruption,“ he said, adding that the cause of this failure needs to be detected.
Iran’s chief inspector said earlier that the privatization drive has been plagued by corruption.
Mohammad Niazi, who heads the State Inspectorate Organization, said some people have misused insider information in the process of privatizing state companies.
He said that disseminating information on economic corruption is like a double-edge sword, stressing that the people want to see the actual outcome of the fight against corruption.
“If the names of those involved in economic corruption are not disclosed, public trust (in the anti-corruption campaign) will dampen,“ he said.

Iran exported $984 million worth of steel and metals during March 2005-January 2006.

TEHRAN, March 11--Steel industry has become increasingly concerned about the prospect of the key sector sliding further into turmoil in the year to March 2007 as the number of production units, which were operational in the March 2005-2006 period, hardly reached 15 percent, said the secretary of Steel Producers Association.
“Last year (March 2005-2006) only 10-15 percent of the steel producers were active and if this situation continues, the figure will come down to below 10 percent,“ Rassoul Khalifeh-Soltan told ILNA, adding that if the government implements its decision to charge the steel producers an extra three-percent duties on sales, no private company will be able to continue business.
He criticized the excessive steel imports, saying low tariffs have reduced the producers’ willingness in domestic production and encouraged imports.
“Excessive imports will damage competitiveness among domestic producers and will largely benefit the traders,“ he said, adding that import tariffs currently stand at 10-11 percent.
Some 32 major steel processing units with a total capacity of six million tons a year are being constructed by private companies.
However, major steel mills, namely Mobarakeh Steel Mills with 3.4 million tons, Isfahan Steel Company with 2.1 million tons and Khuzestan Steel Mills with 1.8 million tons per annum are state-controlled.
Experts blame state monopoly for the serious challenges facing the industry, stressing that the key sector can only grow once state controls are removed.
Iran exported $984 million worth of steel and metals during March 2005-January 2006, showing a 39.7-percent increase against the figure for the corresponding period of the previous year.
Steel and metals exports also recorded an 84-percent rise in terms of weight to reach 2.1 million tons.
Steel imports have declined in the past few months as exports have constantly been on the rise.

TEHRAN, March 11--Minister of Industries and Mines Alireza Tahmasebi said here on Saturday that Tehran is keen to boost bilateral economic cooperation with Oman.
According to ILNA, the minister further said at the 10th Iran-Oman Economic Cooperation Commission meeting that the two Muslim countries’ leaders are determined to bolster two-way trade relations, stressing that Iran hopes for mutual interactions in all key economic, commercial, industrial, mining, scientific and cultural sectors.
He said Iran’s industrial and mining exports will increase in the coming years thanks to the amelioration of Foreign Investment Laws.
“We have made certain amendments to Foreign Investment Laws, ameliorated the Taxation Laws, sped up the privatization process, liberalized foreign trade, eliminated non-tariff barriers, adopted the industrial development strategy, etc. in recent years,“ he said, adding that Iran’s gross national product stands at 7.6 percent while industrial exports have increased 41 percent.
The minister said Iran is planning to attain self-sufficiency in agricultural production and has plans for boosting its industrial sector significantly.
“I hope that Iran-Oman economic cooperation, which includes the construction of a power station by Iran in that country, will improve in all other areas as well,“ he said.

TEHRAN, March 11--Iran’s aviation chief said here on Saturday that the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CAOIRI) has not yet received a response from the US aviation authorities regarding Tehran’s proposal to establish direct flights between the two countries.
Nourollah Rezaei-Niaraki told ILNA that the organization had expected the response to come within a week, stressing, however, that the Americans have not yet announced their views one and a half months after they received the proposal.
“As per international laws, no country can prevent flights from other countries just like that,“ he explained.
He said the proposal came after very many Iranian nationals residing in the US requested the Iranian government to establish direct flights between Tehran and New York.

YEREVAN, Armenia, March 11--International sanctions that could be imposed against Iran over its controversial nuclear research program would increase tensions in the neighboring South Caucasus region, an Armenian expert said Friday.
“Possible sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Iran will further aggravate tension in the South Caucasus region ... which is involved in ambitious economic projects with Iran,“ said Stepan Grigoryan, head of an Armenian think-tank on globalization and regional cooperation.
According to Ria Novosti, the South Caucasus region includes the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which border on Iran, and Georgia. As UN member states, the three republics will be obliged to follow the decisions of the UN Security Council, Grigoryan said.
If the UN Security Council does opt for sanctions, they will most likely be economic and diplomatic, which will entail a ban on visas for senior officials of the Islamic Republic and a resolution to freeze their bank accounts, he said.
Iran risks coming under international sanctions after it resumed uranium enrichment--a process that can be used to generate energy and create weapons-grade material--after a two-year hiatus, arousing particular concerns in the West and in neighboring Israel.
However, Grigoryan said, the worst possible scenario would be if the United States and its supporters in the UN decide to form an anti-Iranian coalition, similar to the one against Iraq, and start a unilateral campaign, including a military operation.
“This will require political decisions from the leaderships of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia on whether they will join the US-led coalition, and provide air space or their territories“ for the operation, Grigoryan said.
He said the leaders of the three republics would inevitably have different answers to these questions, which ’is highly likely to result in harsher confrontation between the countries of the region’.