Romano Prodi

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has said that he did not believe in European Union sanctions against Iran over its peaceful nuclear program expressing doubts whether other states would follow suit, IRNA reported.
Speaking in an interview with Le Figaro which appeared in its Friday issue, Prodi said EU sanctions would only serve to change trade flows.
He said he had no confidence in European sanctions, which, in his opinion, would not be shared by the other countries.
Paris has urged its EU partners to take the lead on sanctions after the UN Security Council decided to delay further measures but Germany and Italy, which have important trade ties with Iran, remain reluctant to act.
Meanwhile, German Ambassador to Tehran Herbert Honsowitz said Wednesday that German banks and firms have limited their working ties with Iran under the influence of the US government.
In a meeting with Kish Free Trade Zone Managing Director Majid Shayesteh, Honsowitz said, “Unfortunately the decisions of international organizations, the US government and the European Union have had negative affects on Iran-Germany trade ties.“
He said, “Some 30 to 35 percent of German banks have banking ties with the US banks and the US government has officially declared that they should choose either working with American banks or Iranians.“
Some of the German banks or companies have heard about possible sanctions against Iran, so they have a feeling of not being secure enough to have professional ties, he continued.
In another development, a representative of German industry warned on Thursday that the German economy would be harmed and China would gain a competitive edge if the EU imposed sanctions on Iran, AFP reported.
“As long as there is no common sanctions policy from the United Nations, there will be no effective control over exports to Iran,“ Matthias Mitscherlich of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) told Deutschlandradio Kultur in Berlin.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has indicated that Germany would consider further reducing its commercial relations with Iran if no agreement can be struck within the United Nations Security Council.
Mitscherlich, who is on the board of German truckmaker MAN, said such a move would lead to Germany losing its position as Iran’s biggest trading partner in Europe and commercial relationships built up over a matter of years would disintegrate.
“It would be a huge shame if this economic basis is destroyed as a result of short-term political action,“ he said. The beneficiary would be China, whose products were already ’flooding’ into Iran, Mitscherlich said.
In the first six months of 2007, exports of German machine tools and industrial equipment to Iran dropped by 40 percent, he said.
Meanwhile, head of National Bank of Romania denied that there was any government notification banning money transfer to Iran, IRNA wrote.
In a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Romania Alireza Arshadi on Thursday, Mugur Isarescu emphasized the need to bolster economic cooperation between the two nations.

Japan’s oil import from Iran witnessed a growth of over 49.8 percent in October compared to the figure for September, Fars quoted internet site of Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as saying.
Japan’s oil import from Iran stood at over 2.1 million tons in October, indicating a rise of 10.4 percent against the figure for same period of last year. Japan’s total oil imports reached 20.49 million tons during October.
Saudi Arabia with 5.7 million tons and UAE with 5.09 million tons were the top two oil exporters to Japan, followed by Qatar (with 2.4 million tons) and Iran (with 2.1 million tons). Japan imported about 315,000 tons from Iraq.
Marketing manager of National Iranian Oil Company said late September that the company has informed all oil buyers in Japan to replace the US dollar with yen in their deals.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi told PIN that some Japanese clients had taken up the policy, adding Nippon Oil was not the sole refinery that was paying yen instead of dollar for Iran’s oil since other Japanese refineries were also buying the commodity in yen.
The official, however, did not disclose the names of other Japanese firms paying in yen.
He said some Japan-based purchasers of Iran’s oil had sought a couple of months to change the payment mode.
Khatibi said over 70 percent of Iran’s crude oil were now sold in euro and yen rather than the dollar.
Given the fluctuating and weakening dollar in recent years, Iran decided to receive the least amount of dollar in its international deals, asking customers to change the currency.

Deputy head of the State Audit Organization said on Thursday that economic offenses involving 70 trillion rials were reported during March 21-October 21 this year.
Speaking on the sidelines of a regional training workshop on ’Adopting Policies of Article 44 of the Constitution’ in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province, Mahmoud Baqeri noted that some wrongdoings pertained to foreign exchange transactions, IRNA reported.
He further reported a drop in the number of economic misconduct since March this year as compared with the figure for the previous year.
“The number of offenses has fallen by 80 percent (since March) in comparison with the figure for the previous year,“ Baqeri added.
He pointed out that the biggest dossier last year concerned the contract to sell gas to the UAE company Crescent. “Through timely steps in the Crescent case, we prevented a loss of $30-42 billion over the next 20 years. We are presently working on this contract to bring it in line with the country’s interests,“ Baqeri added.

In addition to meeting domestic demands, petrochemical industry also earned $5 billion from exports in the year to March 2007.

Iran’s share in Middle East petrochemical production has increased to over 12 percent while Saudi Arabia accounts for 50 percent of the region’s output. Other states make up 37 percent of the total production.
According to targets set by Vision 2025 Plan, Iran should overtake Saudi in terms of petrochemical production by 2025.
Petrochemical production capacity in Iran has grown 1.5 times in the past eight years. Most of the petrochemical factories which were planned as per Third Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2000-2005), have now become operational or are nearing completion.
To achieve the target set by Vision 2025, about $50 billion should be invested in the petrochemical industry. Once the sum is invested, Iran can produce 34 percent of the petrochemical products in the Middle East while Saudi Arabia’s share would drop to 33 percent with other countries producing 33 percent.
Given its huge gas reserves, Iran has unlimited opportunities. However, it faces problems including the absence of a developed and strong domestic market.
Supportive policies and price-fixing have prevented the growth of the petrochemical industry.
Achieving the goals of Vision 2025 in the petrochemical industry depends on reducing government involvement in the sector and providing more facilities to investors.
Given the existence of a number of problems, lower government involvement in the sector is of high importance.
In addition to meeting domestic demand, petrochemical industry also earned $5 billion from exports in the year to March 2007.
The importance of petrochemical industry in today’s economy points to the need for investment in the sector.
With the approval of mechanisms to do away with price fixing, all petrochemical products will be brought under a new pricing plan by March 2008. However, chemical fertilizers are exempt from this in view of its role in producing agro crops.
Liberalization of the prices of petrochemical products is the most important decision taken in recent years to breathe a new life to the sector.
Delay in implementing this, has driven downstream petrochemical industries to trade in raw materials rather than in production. With the government’s decision to scrap price-fixing, the formation of a strong market, attraction of capital and gaining a proper share of the global market would be possible in the sector.
This policy along with facilitating investment and reducing government role will help the sector achieve its long-term goals of becoming the top petrochemical producer in the Middle East.

Iran’s national car officially entered the Georgian market on Friday in a ceremony in the capital Tbilisi with 100 Samand sedans joining the Tblisi taxi fleet.
Earlier, a one-day seminar was held on Thursday in which Iran’s Ambassador to Georgia Mojtaba Damirchi urged Iranian companies to participate more actively in the Georgian market, IRNA wrote.
Describing the export of Iran Khodro products to Georgia as a major step toward introducing Iran’s capabilities, he said it would pave the way for exporting other commodities as well as technical and engineering services to Georgia.
Damirchi referred to the growing ties between Tehran and Tbilisi particularly in the economic sector, and underlined the need for making full use of the economic potentials.
He noted that the seminar was also held with the aim of making Iranian businesspersons familiar with regulations and economic structures of Georgia to encourage them to be present in the Georgian market.
The Georgian deputy minister of economic development for international and commercial affairs, for his part, expressed his country’s readiness to help Iranian businessmen participate in economic projects.
Georgia is a good market for Iranian products and Iranian businessmen can further tap the potentials of this Caucasian republic.
Georgia can also serve as an important gateway for Iran-Europe trade.

Privatization policies and implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution which seeks large-scale privatization provide opportunity for cooperation between Iranian and international banks including those from Spain, observed Iran’s Ambassador to Spain Davoud Salehi.
In a meeting with the governor of Spain’s central bank, Miguel Angel Fernandez, he noted that the Central Bank of Iran is ready to cooperate with Spanish banks, IRNA reported.
Angel Fernandez, for his part, said that Spanish banks can boost cooperation with their Iranian counterparts.
Underlining that all central banks in European countries observe the regulations of European Central Bank, he said that strong banking presence in Latin America, Asia and Africa was a top priority for Spain.
He elaborated that at present leading Spanish banks are the major investors in Latin America, adding that Spain has invested more than 130 billion euros in Latin American countries.
He said that Spanish banks can cooperate with Iran in various banking issues.

President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamadov of Turkmenistan has announced that operations to construct the railway line linking Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan will begin in Barakat, a Turkmen city bordering Iran’s Golestan province, today.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, he underlined the significance of the project, which links Iran and Turkmenistan. The railway is to extend 900 kilometers, of which 700 kilometers will be in Turkmenistan.
High-ranking officials of Iran and Kazakhstan are to attend the ceremony to launch the major economic project, IRNA reported.
The railway line will have an annual good transportation capacity of three to five million tons and this can even be increased to 12 million tons.
Preliminary agreement on the establishment of the railway was signed between the Turkmen and Kazakh presidents in Turkmenbasi in May and was approved on the sidelines of the recent summit of Caspian Sea littoral states in Tehran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Second Exclusive Fair in Ashkhabad Turkmenistan which ended on Friday was warmly welcomed by visitors.
A large number of visitors to the event called for holding such exhibitions regularly, describing them as a fora for promoting bilateral economic ties.
At the event, some 80 Iranian companies displayed their products in the fields of agriculture machinery, construction materials, food industries, home appliance, textile and electrical products.

Chairman of the Majlis Industries and Mines Commission has described the progress made in Mega Motor Company in quality and quantity as praiseworthy.
Speaking during a visit to the company, Hossein Hashemi said that the high quality of Mega Motor products indicates the company’s capability, according to a fax sent to Iran Daily by Public Relations Office of Mega Motor Company.
He added that progress and development of Mega Motor promise a good future for the auto industry.
Hashemi said that Mega Motor’s plans to increase production capacity to one million engines would introduce Iran as a pioneer in manufacturing automobile engines.
Meanwhile another MP, Ahmad Bozorgian said that the visit to Mega Motor provided the members of the Majlis commission an opportunity to increase their knowledge about the auto industry. “We can witness self-belief, self-reliance and capabilities of Iranian manufacturers in Mega Motor“ he said.
He said that production of 500,000 engines shows the key and effective role played by Mega Motor in the auto industry. He predicted that the manufacture of one million engines in 2011 shows the company’s strong will for development.
Isfahan representative in Majlis referred to the efforts of Mega Motors directors and specialist to improve the quality of products, and added, “It is a matter of pride that our experts can design automobile engines.“
He noted that the visit shows that fruitful research has been conducted in the fields of dual-fuel cars, diesel and hybrid engines and fuels from plants.
Mega Motor Company has been awarded an honorary certificate for its performance. It was presented at Fourth Productivity and Business Excellence Award Ceremony.
Based on studies by the Institute for Productivity and Human Resources Development (IPHRD) earlier this year, Mega Motor was selected as one of the top 11 companies in the country.
It is worthy of notice that Mega Motor won the Commitment to Excellence in Productivity and Organizational Development Award last year.
Performance and records of the important industrial unit show it has sincerely strived to promote the culture of excellence and contribute to national growth over the past 3 years.