Some 1.9 million new jobs have been created during March 2005-March 2007, deputy labor minister for employment and human resources affairs said.
Javad Farshbaf-Maherian explained that the figure shows that the country is ahead of the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (2005-2010) target which envisages generating 900,000 jobs annually, IRNA reported.
He said that about 1.2 million jobs should be created to reduce unemployment and turn it into a single digit figure.
The official pointed out that the provinces of Lorestan and East Azarbaijan had the highest and lowest unemployment rates respectively nationwide.
Farshbaf-Maherian referred to the establishment of small enterprises as one of the main measures undertaken by the Labor Ministry, adding the medium sized enterprises have also been set up in the year to March 2008.
He elaborated that about 900,000 projects of economic enterprises have been presented to leading banks.
The official recalled that the proper management made a balance between the supply and demand of workforce in South Khorasan province which used to have the high unemployment rate. Economic enterprises played a major role in this regard, he added.

With the implementation of development projects in villages, the trend of migration from rural areas to cities has grown only 0.5 percent since 1996. This indicates the success of rural development projects undertaken by the government.
Expressing this, deputy head of Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation for Rural Development, further stated that statistics show that until 1996 rural population declined by nine percent per decade and instead urban population soared, Persian daily ’Iran’ wrote.
Mohammadreza Shamlou recalled that about 68 percent of the total population resided in villages and 32 percent lived in cities in 1956. But the figure reversed in 1996, he added.
He continued that thanks to measures taken by state organizations such as Agricultural Jihad Ministry and Housing Foundation, the villages witnessed huge development which slowed the trend of migration to cities.
The official pointed out that currently land price in some villages even stands at three million rials per square meter.
Shamlou put the total number of villages at 62,225 in which above 21 million people reside.
He said that about 17,700 rural projects were proposed until June 21, a number of which have been implemented or under implementation in 8,490 villages.
The official put the cost of implementing rural projects at above two trillion rials in the year to March 2007--indicating a 6.5 times growth compared to the figure for the year to March 2002.
Rural projects include development measures taken for constructing rural roads, monuments and thoroughfares.
He disclosed that ownership documents have been issued for over 1.3 million rural houses out of the total four million houses, providing solace to the villagers.
Shamlou also disclosed that the memorandum of understanding had been signed with Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization to renovate and preserve valuable and historic textures of 380 villages.
Housing Foundation, in line of supporting rural handicrafts, aims to introduce rural workshops to Labor and Social Affairs Offices in an effort to provide job-creating loans for villagers, he concluded.

Pakistan has agreed on the details of a deal to buy gas from Iran, an Iranian official said on Friday, adding that the proposed tri-nation pipeline would be viable even if India, the third party, balked.
According to IRIB, Iranian oil minister’s special representative for Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline stated that the agreement consists of financial, legal and technical issues and a document which should be signed as a sale credit.
The proposed 2,600 km pipeline project will deliver natural gas from hydrocarbon-rich Iran to Pakistan and India.
“According to the agreement, three million cubic meters of natural gas will be transferred daily from Iran to Pakistan,“ Hojjatollah Ghanimifard said.
He added that the $7.4-billion project is expected to be complete by 2010.
Iran says it has completed 18 percent of the pipeline project to bring gas from its South Pars field up to Iran-Pakistan border.
On ambiguities surrounding India’s intention to buy gas from Iran, he replied that India has not officially announced its request yet.
Ghanimifard said the three sides had previously planned for gas sales and purchase agreements to be negotiated separately by India and Pakistan.
In July, Ghanimifard said India and Pakistan had accepted Iran’s demand for gas price reviews based on market changes.
He denied reports in some Indian newspapers that the pipeline talks had failed after Iran demanded a review every three years.
Iran has the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia.

500 shipments were smuggled into the country via Imam Khomeini International Airport Customs.

A gang engaged in smuggling 100 billion rials worth of goods via Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) Customs has been discovered and its members arrested.
Two main offenders involved in bringing 500 illegal consignments into the country using forged customs documents were detained. One of the frauds was accused of smuggling over 600 billion rials worth of commodities. The other corrupt businessperson was charged with bringing smuggled goods, valued 300 billion rials, into the country and forging official documents.
The massive smuggling operation was brought to light after a computer operator of a warehouse in IKIA customs noticed discrepancies in customs document pertaining to a person named ’M. P.’ which was different from other regular papers. The operator became suspicious and raised the issue with director of the IKIA storehouse and the guards, the Persian daily ’Iran’ reported on Saturday.
The criminal managed to flee after his 200-billion-rial bribe offer was turned down by the operator.
After the incident, a four-member team was assigned by IKIA customs to probe the issue. Investigation has disclosed that over 500 consignments of goods including luxury items, cosmetics, cellphone handsets and spare parts were smuggled into the country from one of the main international airports in the Iranian capital.
It was not the first time big fish pocketed huge sums by smuggling in goods via the country’s main official gateway and not from unknown places like far-flung borders or unofficial jetties.
Some 11,471 cases of goods smuggling, worth 722.8 billion rials, via customs were discovered during March 21-June 22, according to statistics released by Iran Customs Administration.
This showed a 6.8-percent decline in number and 173.5 percent rise in value compared to figures for the same period last year. Statistics suggest that smuggling via customs is on the rise.

Sugar imports reached over 3.2 million tons last year.

Iran’s sugar industry is grappling with its biggest crisis in the past 110 years, warned chairman of Board of Directors of Association of Sugar Mills.
Alireza Ashraf told IRNA Saturday that unchecked sugar imports have triggered a crisis--unprecedented in over one century--for the industry.
Over 3.2 million tons of sugar were imported last year, he said, elaborating, “Even during the war (1980-88 Iran-Iraq War), sugar imports were less than a million tons and we faced no problem in meeting the demand.“
He observed that excessive sugar import coupled with zero tariff rates reduced market prices, creating serious challenges for sugar mills. “The price of sugar in the market is about 2,000 rials less than factories’ cost price.“
Ashraf explained that sugar mills were unable to repay their debts to banks and farmers because of such problems.
This is while a major part of sugar purchased by the government from farmers and 1.4 million tons of exported sugar is still in warehouses, he explained, warning that such imprudent measures have caused self-sufficiency in sugar to be delayed for at least four to five years.

Despite US pressure giant European firms involved in Iran energy development projects still outnumber companies from other countries.
A report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on Sept. 27 suggests that three out of five companies involved in giant projects in Iran’s gas and oil fields are from Europe.
Quoting the report, Fars news agency reported Saturday that French oil and gas company Total has an 89 percent share in foreign owned production in the country. Norwegian Statoil has a 55 percent and Italian ENI a 29 percent shares in the national oil and gas projects.
Names of two non-European companies are seen among top five foreign firms operating in country’s oil and gas fields.
South Korean LG International has a 75 percent shares while the share of Malaysia’s Petronas has not been mentioned.
Iran is the third among top 25 countries in total proven oil reserves. The country has 340 billion oil barrels of oil and oil equivalent. Russia stands first with 410 billion barrels of oil and gas, followed by Saudi Arabia with 375 billion barrels.
The report further stressed that the room for overseas maneuvers by oil and gas conglomerates from industrialized countries in the hydrocarbon industry is shrinking. With crude oil staying above $70 a barrel, such traditional transnational corporations (TNCs) are losing bargaining power to oil-producing countries eager to use climbing demand to capture a larger share of the rents. Traditional TNCs are also facing new competition in the form of TNCs from the South.

Majlis on Saturday voted against giving priority to a double urgency bill requiring the government to offer gasoline at free market rate.
A number of lawmakers had submitted the bill to this effect to the Majlis Presiding Board a few days ago, IRIB reported.
Those supporting the bill stated that the government has failed to fully implement Note 13 of 2007-08 Budget Law based on which the government was required to implement a gasoline rationing plan as well as offer fuel outside the quota system at market price.
They said that absence of non-rationed gasoline has created numerous problems including fuel black market near filling stations.
Parliamentarians opposed to the bill maintained that if gasoline is offered at free market price, it would contribute to inflation. Sale of non-rationed gasoline also contradicts the main objective of the plan which is cut in gasoline consumption and import.
From June 22, Iran began rationing petrol and the Oil Ministry has allocated each private motorist 100 liters per month at about 10 cents per liter. Although Iran is a leading OPEC member and the world’s fourth biggest oil producer with a daily oil production of 4.2 million barrels, it still spends about five to eight billion dollars annually on gasoline imports due to a lack of refineries and a preference for oil export.
Under this plan, gasoline is only supplied through smart card, an initiative taken by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop lavish fuel consumption--73 million liters daily--by over seven million cars nationwide.

Global warming is leading to coral bleaching in the Persian Gulf.

Head of National Oceanology Center has blamed greenhouse gases for destroying the coral reefs in the Persian Gulf.
“Greenhouse gases, emitted as a result of industrial activities and pollutants, have pushed up temperatures in the Persian Gulf to 36 degrees Centigrade and caused coral bleaching,“ Vahid Chegini told IRIB.
Oil pollution, anthropogenic onshore activities and development projects are the main environmental challenges in the Persian Gulf, he elaborated.
The official called for ratifying the plan to coordinate the policies of state organizations responsible for protecting the marine environment.
Global warming is heating sea water and leading to coral bleaching, an ailment that causes normally colorful corals to turn white, and white plague, a disease sweeping and killing coral around the world. The United Nations has found that close to a third of the world’s corals have disappeared, and 60 percent are expected to vanish by 2030.

Council of Public Relations Offices in Markazi province made up of the major factories has been set up for the first time.
Members of the council include Iran Aluminum Company, Combine Harvester Manufacturing Firm, Arak Petrochemical Company, HEPCO, Azarab, Navard-e Aluminum, Markazi Province’ Industrial Townships Company, Gas Company, Water and Wastewater Company, Machine Sazi Arak, Industries and Mines Department, Labor and Social Affairs Department and Amir Kabir Recreational Area, Public Relations Office of Azarab Company reported in a fax to Iran Daily.
The move aims to develop the industries of the province and pave the way for holding expositions both at the national and international levels.