Turkmenistan is trying to take advantage of cold weather to double the price of its gas exports to Iran, an Iranian official said.
Turkmenistan has halted gas exports to northeastern Iran since Saturday, citing routine repairs and maintenance work as the reason, Fars news agency quoted an unnamed Oil Ministry official as saying.
The suspension of Turkmen gas supplies is taking place at a time when the region is affected by harsh winter conditions, which also means that the season is not quite suitable for purported repair and maintenance work, the official added.
Turkmenistan is apparently after doubling the price of gas exported to Iran and the colder-than-usual weather conditions seem to have provided it an opportunity to press the point.
Iran has been importing an average 21 million cubic meters of gas daily from Turkmenistan since the beginning of the current Iranian year to March 2008, and this figure has increased to 23-24 million cubic meters a day with the onset of cold weather.
Turkmenistan has reduced its gas deliveries to neighboring Iran by 50 percent since Saturday, blaming it on technical and operational factors, an official at Iran’s national gas company was quoted as saying on Sunday.
“Since yesterday about 50 percent of the gas imported from Turkmenistan, which equals five percent of (Iran’s) gas demand, has been cut,“ the ISNA news agency quoted the official as saying.
“Turkmenistan has announced that the reason for this decrease in gas exports to Iran is technical and operational issues,“ the official at the National Iranian Gas Company, identified only by his surname Ramezani, said.
However, Ramezani also raised the possibility that a future gas price rise could be an underlying factor, adding in the ISNA report: “... one of the reasons for this cut in supply could be a warning about a rise of gas prices, but not necessarily.“
Iran has the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia.

From left: The head of Privatization Organization Gholamreza Heidari Kord-Zangeneh, the chairman of ICCIM Mohammad Nahavandian and the secretary of the conference Mohammad Ali Mousavi (Photo by Ali Hassanpour)

Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz will lecture in an upcoming conference on globalization to be held in Tehran.
Announcing this at a press conference on ’International Conference on Globalization, Privatization and Economic Justice’, chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Mine (ICCIM) Mohammad Nahavandian said that 21 economists from home and abroad will present papers at the gathering slated for January 6-8. Former Malaysian prime minister and winner of Nobel economy prize in 1990 will lecture in the confab via video conference.
Some 700 guests and 100 experts from various countries will take part in the confab organized jointly by ICCIM, Privatization Organization and National Center for Globalization Studies.
Nahavandian noted that the three issues of globalization, privatization and justice are interlinked and focus on the topics is of paramount importance for Iran given that the privatization process in the national economy.
The process is being pursued in line with new reading of Article 44 of the Constitution that seeks large-scale privatization in key economic areas which were off limits to private enterprises for almost three decades as well as downsizing the government.
The ICCIM chief said that economic policymakers and planners are striving to enhance the role of private sector in the economy in an attempt to prepare them for stiff global competition.
Speaking at the same gathering, head of Privatization Organization stated that the privatization drive is pursuing two primary and secondary targets.
First, it seeks a reduction in government’s economic activities and control over economy, cut in budget deficit and state debts as well as increase in competitiveness, Gholamreza Heidari Kord-Zangeneh stated.
In the second step, he said, privatization targets development of capital market, safeguarding the interest of consumers and slash subsidies.
The official blamed centralized and state-run economy for the slow pace of privatization and underdevelopment of the economy.

Some 54,000 samples taken from migratory birds in the wetlands and habitats show no cases of avian flu.

Head of State Veterinary Organization said no domestic birds have been tested positive for avian flu until now.
Mojtaba Norouzi told reporters late Sunday that the World Health Organization has listed 70 countries in which cases of bird flu have been reported and domestic birds in 47 of these states have been tested positive for avian flu, MNA wrote.
“Iran appears on the list of countries in which bird flu has been reported because of the outbreak of the disease among wild swans in Bandar Anzali International Wetland. No domesticated bird has been identified with the virulent virus.“
Norouzi warned residents of the northern provinces not to hunt fowls, adding that 54,000 samples taken from migratory birds in the wetlands and habitats show no cases of avian flu.
He noted that cases of bird flu are reported in neighboring states, the organization would cull poultries in places where birds have been detected with suspicious respiratory diseases.
This is in line with precautionary measures taken by the organization and compensations would be paid to owners, the official added.
Bronchitis and other respiratory infections reported in regions in Tehran provinces led to the culling of birds, he said, adding that samples would be sent to Italy for laboratory test.
Turning to shrimp exports, Norouzi, who has headed the organization since March, said ban on Iran shrimp has been removed by European Union. “Shrimp exports to EU will resume from January.“
Iran has approximately 2,600 hectares of shrimp ponds, but that number will probably drop to 1,600 in 2008 due to storms in the south that inflicted heavy damage on shrimp farms.
The European Union stopped importing shrimp from Iran on the pretext that Iran’s State Veterinary Organization did not submit required documents on time.

Software produced in Iran has been warmly welcomed in target markets, said chairman of Software Exporters Union.
Speaking at the First Conference on Software Exports; Challenges and Opportunities on Monday, Fereydoun Entezari stated that some software programs designed by Iranian engineers are successfully being executed in countries in Europe, Americas, Central Asia and Persian Gulf as well as Afghanistan, IRIB reported.
He called on the government to support software producers and exporters by implementing the law on supporting software designers, improving quality of exported products, giving incentives (eight percent of total exports) to exporters and establishing a fund to guarantee software export.
The expert added that these incentives would motivate domestic companies to produce software based on the taste and needs of international customers.
“The government has set aside 30 billion rials for implementing a nine-chapter plan called ’supportive package’ to boost software exports.“
Entezari noted that the union has decided to send a team of information technology experts to Uzbekistan next month and set up Iran’s pavilion in the world’s biggest trade show for information and telecommunications technology CeBIT, Hanover, Germany (March 4-9).
He said that specialized delegations would be dispatched to target countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Malaysia, Syria and Venezuela during the coming Iranian year to March 2009 and an ICT exhibit would be held in Afghanistan to increase software exports.
Iran exported some $25 million worth of software products in 2006-7.
Meanwhile, head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran has promised that software exports would have a significant share in total non-oil exports in the future.
Mehdi Ghazanfari stated that software exports can reach $40 million per annum as the figure rose to $25 million last year from the $250,000 in 2003.

Saffron export declined by 70 percent during March-October, said Ali Shariati-Moqaddam, head of Saffron Export Promotion Fund.
He told MNA that bulk export of saffron would endanger the country’s status in global markets. He explained that exporting saffron in small packages would help Iran safeguard its position.
Underlining that the future of saffron exports has been put in jeopardy due to the lack of proper policies, he said that the country currently has the potential to pack up to 450 tons of saffron with higher quality compared to those of its rivals such as Spain.
Shariati-Moqaddam put the packaging capacity in Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and North Khorasan provinces at 400 tons.
This is while, less than 15-20 percent of domestic saffron product is exported in packages, he claimed.
Stressing that the price of saffron fell by one million rials per kilogram, he said the prices fluctuated between 14 and 20 million rials per kilogram since March 21.
Currently, its price is at 19 million rials per kilogram, he concluded.
Saffron, a major non-oil export commodity, was once an economic advantage for Iran. With the decline in export revenues, it no longer has this status. Without saffron, Khorasan’s economy could come to an almost complete standstill.
Iran’s saffron is exported mostly to the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Japan, Turkmenistan, France, Italy and even the US.

Domestic automobile plants produced about 790,000 vehicles during March 21-November 21, 2007, showing a rise of 16 percent compared to the figure for the same period last year.
According to the Industries and Mine Ministry, a significant portion of the growth pertained to gas-fueled Peugeot Pars sedans manufactured by giant Iranian automaker Iran Khodro, IRNA said.
Based on the report, the main reason for the rise in production is the attention paid to bifuel automobiles.
It added that gas-fuelled versions of Peugeot 405, Peugeot RD, Pride and Peykan pickup respectively recorded the highest output among domestically manufactured cars during the eight-month period.
It was announced in early July, 2007 that all vehicles produced from 23 July 23 would have dual-fuel facilities installed. Iran’s auto manufacturing industry, born in 1957 with the assembling of Jeep, is currently the 16th largest in the world, producing one million buses, lorries and cars. Iran is also a major player in the Middle East, home to the region’s largest auto manufacturer Iran Khodro.