Landlocked Afghanistan has almost no railroad.

With the completion of the Khaf-Herat railroad by March 2008, northeastern regions of Iran will be connected to northwestern Afghanistan, head of Herat’s Public Services Department said. So far, half of the Afghanistan sector of the railroad project has been constructed, Habibollah Teimouri stated.
The Iranian section of the 138-km rail connection has had an 80-percent physical progress, the Afghan official
was quoted by IRNA as saying.
Noting that the railroad is under construction as part of Iran’s 75-million-dollar donation for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country, he stated that the project is progressing slowly due to insecurity in the province.
“Following the kidnapping of an Iranian engineer involved in the project some time ago by armed gangs, staff have refused to work at nights.“
To expedite the construction work, a team from Herat police has been assigned to ensure the security of the project, Teimouri added.
Construction of the railroad linking Khaf, 250 km southeast of the provincial capital of Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi province to strategically-important Herat city in Afghanistan began on January 29, 2007.
Khaf with a population of 110,000 has 123 km border with Afghanistan.
The project will help landlocked Afghanistan, which has almost no railway, to be connected to Central Asian, European and Iran’s Persian Gulf port railroad.

Fitch Ratings (UK) said it affirmed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s long-term foreign currency and local currency issuer default ratings at ’B+’ with stable outlook.
The ratings balance Iran’s strengthening external creditor position, and comfortable debt service and liquidity ratios against a weakening macro-policy framework, increasing vulnerability to lower oil prices and still-high political risk, Fitch was quoted by Forbes as saying.
Iran’s ratings are vulnerable to any major weakening of the oil price or material deterioration in relations with the international community. However, the stable outlook reflects Fitch’s judgment that such deterioration is unlikely for the foreseeable future, Fars news agency said.
Iran’s fiscal position is much weaker than the external position, with Iran one of only two major oil exporters running a budget deficit at current high oil prices. Although Iran’s budget deficit is estimated to be only just over one pct of GDP this year, it is likely to widen, even with unchanged oil prices, as spending continues to rise rapidly, Fitch said.
Fitch also noted that interest rates remain negative in real terms and the monetary authorities have come under political pressure to cut rates further, despite inflation that reached 18.1 pct last month and which is likely to increase further in the absence of tighter fiscal and monetary policies.
Fitch said political risk remains high and is a key rating constraint with elections to the Majlis (parliament) scheduled for March 2008 and presidential elections slated for 2009.

Preventive measures have been taken to halt the spread of H5N1 virus in border areas.

Sales of live poultry have been banned in Tehran to prevent the outbreak of bird-related diseases.
Announcing this on Monday, deputy head of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences however underlined that no case of bird flu has been reported across the country, Fars news agency reported.
Mohammad Imam Hadi added that avian flu has also not been reported in areas under the jurisdiction of Shahid Beheshti University notably Tehran, Damavand, Firouzkouh, Pakdasht, and Varamin.
“The threat of bird flu has not yet been removed,“ he warned, adding Health Ministry, police and Agriculture Jihad Ministry are cooperating to prevent potential threats posed by bird flu.
Imam Hadi added that preventive measures have been taken to halt the spread of H5N1 virus in border areas.
He underlined that pet shops on Molavi Street, a scruffy market in downtown Tehran where dealers are involved in illicit trade of animals, have been shut down.
The busy Molavi Street has long been a marketplace for trade in birds and animals. “With the aim of preventing the outbreak of avian flu, Ministry of Health, Agriculture Jihad Ministry and Interior Ministry have taken preventive measures to check the disease.“
Earlier, Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani denied the prevalence of bird flu in the northern city of Amol in Mazandaran province.
Reports had earlier quoted officials of Amol Animal Husbandry Organization as saying that bird flu was reported in the city situated near the Caspian Sea.
Lankarani said no case of human or bird flu has been reported in Amol. “Presently, many countries neighboring Iran have reported bird flu while we are clear of the killer disease,“ he said.
“Border markets have been closed and people have been informed through educational programs on ways of preventing avian flu,“ he said.

Minister of Industries and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian (r) listens to a woman entrepreneur on the sidelines of an exhibition held in Tehran on Monday.

Labor regulations and job liaisons have not been in conformity with the status of women in the society, observed Minister of Industries and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian.
Addressing a gathering of women entrepreneurs on Monday, he noted that Labor Law was initially drawn up for employment of men and the women encounter many problems due to this.
Mehrabian said that the educational level of women is higher than those of men in the industrial field. “Presently women account for more than 65 percent of the students in universities and 50 percent of graduates,“ he pointed out.
Over 70 percent of Iran’s economy is state-run, he said, adding the country is moving toward privatization and neglecting the role of women in the process would bring about irreparable damage.
The minister noted that the number of women in cultural and economic jobs is more significant.
He referred to creating jobs and uprooting unemployment as the main concern of the three branches of the government and the Supreme Leader.
Despite investments in improving the educational and technical level of women, adequate measures have not been taken for creating sustainable jobs for them, he noted.
Turning to the impact of smuggling on the economy, Mehrabian said that cellphone smuggling leads to a chaos in the market and damages domestic production. “We reduce import tariff to 25 percent to support both the producers and consumers,“ he noted.
He stated that local manufacturers have so far supplied 300,000 mobile phone handsets to the market, adding competition in the field of cellphone production is increasing constantly.
Meanwhile the minister stated that the country’s mining capacity stands at 30 billion tons of which only 200 million tons are extracted per annum.

State Inspection Organization in a letter to automakers has urged them to fulfill the commitments made to the people.
According to ISNA, the move was taken following delays in the delivery of Tondar 90 vehicles to those who had registered with Pars Khodro Company.
The organization which has received a large number of complaints from applicants on the failure of auto companies to meet their commitments wrote, in the letter, that exporting Tondar 90 and giving the automobiles to the winners of bank lotteries will only lead to public dissatisfaction.
The organization sought clarification on why Pars Khodro decided to export 10 percent of Tondar 90 automobiles and the extent to which the company can fulfill its commitments by the end of the year in March 2008.
It also referred to recent advertisements of a bank and asked on the basis of which permit it sought to give Tondar 90 to the winners of its lotteries.
Some 22,000 people registered in February with Pars Khodro Company for Tondar-90 (Logan). Delivery will be made through lottery and 1,200 applicants will receive their cars.
The French Logan whose name has been changed to Tondar 90 is Type B of the L-90 series of Renault automobiles that operate on 1.6-liter engines, 16 valves, and 107 horsepower. Iran is one of the fastest growing auto markets in the region. Major carmakers Iran Khodro and Saipa manufacture a million cars a year.
The two carmakers are involved in the multibillion-euro L90 project with Renault, making it one of Iran’s biggest foreign investment ventures.

Creation of 11 new special economic zones across the nation has been approved, said secretary of High Council for Free Trade-Industrial Zones.
Mahmoud Salahi told the Persian daily ’Iran’ that the private sector has committed 85 percent of the investments in these free and special economic zones.
The council is also ready to cede state-run sectors to private investors, he added.
He pointed out that proposals were made on establishing 19 special zones during the provincial visits of the Cabinet.
The plan to set up eight special economic zones in Islamabad-e Gharb (Kermanshah province), Namin (Ardebil), Semnan, Mehran (Ilam), Imam Khomeini Port (Khuzestan) and Bushehr Port as well as in Jazmourian and Rafsanjan (both in Kerman) was approved by the council and cabinet and is now awaiting the green light from the Parliament, he said.
The official added that the High Council of Free Trade-Industrial Zones has also approved launching special economic zones in Birjand (South Khorasan province), Kashan (Isfahan) and Shahr-e Kord (Charmahal-Bakhtiari). However, the Cabinet sent back the bill for revision, he noted.
Salahi referred to investment incentives, banking facilities and bureaucracy as the challenges to investing in free zones.
He disclosed that the Fifth Fair on Iran’s Free and Special Economic Zones will be held in Kish Island, southern Hormuzgan province from January 1 to 4.
The official said that managers and investors from six free zones, 16 special economic zones and 100 companies active in the zones will take part in the event to give performance reports on their activities in the past two years and introduce the new investment opportunities.

A branch of Iran-Europe Commercial Bank, a joint financial institution run by Iranian and German banks, is set to open in Tehran soon.
The bank, to be launched in two weeks, is registered in Germany and is being run as per the banking system of the European country which was once the Islamic state’s largest trade partner in the continent, head of the Public Relations Department of Sanat va Madan (industry and mine) Bank Abbaspour was quoted by IRIBNews as saying Monday.
“The bank holds a 51-percent stake in the Sanat va Madan Bank while state banks such as Mellat, Tejarat and Refah are among other share holders of this financial institution,“ added Abbaspour.
He recalled that a branch of the bank is already operational on Kish Island.
The bank started operation on the Persian Gulf island in early 2005 as the first foreign-based bank to open branch in Iran following the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
In June, the then policy-setting money and credit council drafted a bill authorizing foreign banks to establish branches in the country.
Experts as well as officials maintain participation of foreign banks in the country would make domestic banking system more competitive not to mention they would be helpful in attracting foreign investments.
Foreign banks are currently authorized to open branches in the free trade zones but not in the mainland.
On May 6, the council adopted a directive that would allow opening of banks with joint Iranian and foreign investment, possession of shares in Iranian banks by foreign investors and foreign banks to set up branches in the country.

Majlis Research Center has said transfer of equities of state companies in the form of ’justice shares’ would help cut budget deficit.
An objective of the plan to provide ’justice shares’ to low-income strata was to transfer shares of state firms which are a financial burden on government coffers due to their low productivity, the center reported Sunday.
The plan, the research arm of the Iranian parliament said, would help encourage the public to buy shares, paving the way for privatization in line with Article 44 of the Constitution. The article seeks large-scale privatization in key economic areas and downsizing the government.
The center urged the government to implement the plan properly to improve the quality of life of families at the lower end of the economic ladder.
The center was quoted by majlis.ir as reporting that 21.7 trillion rials worth of shares have been ceded as justice shares since the government of President Ahmadinejad took office in August 2005.
It added that 798 million shares of 14 companies were offered to the public during the first stage of the plan.
Meanwhile, a parliamentarian, in a letter, called on State Inspectorate Organization to scrutinize the performance of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance in sale of shares of some state firms.