Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Davoud Danesh-Jafari speaking at the Partnership Summit 2008 in New Delhi, India on Friday.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Davoud Danesh-Jafari called on India and Pakistan to resolve disputes over the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project as soon as possible.
Tehran urges New Delhi and Islamabad to reach agreement soon on transit fees of the proposed 7.4-billion-dollar pipeline expected to transfer Iranian gas to Pakistan and India, the minister said.
Discussion between Iran and Pakistan is almost over. Now, India and Pakistan need to sign the agreement.
“Murli Deora, India’s petroleum and natural gas minister is expected in Tehran next week to discuss the details of the project. Iran may invite Pakistan’s oil minister to take part in the meeting as well,“ Danesh-Jafari added.
The pipeline project is very important not only for the three countries but for the entire region, he added, according to IRNA.
“There may be some pressure on India and Pakistan to delay the project,“ Danesh-Jafari said, speaking at a press conference in Iran’s Embassy in New Delhi on Friday.
There are also some pressures on gas export to Europe but transferring gas to India and Pakistan is Iran’s priority, Danesh-Jafari explained. He, however, declined to name those putting such pressure on Tehran.
Danesh-Jafari, who arrived in New Delhi Tuesday to participate in a mega international event organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), concluded his five-day visit on Saturday.
In a related development, The Economic Times reported that Indian petro major ONGC Videsh (OVL) is set to sign a deal with Iranian oil major Petropars for a stake in the $30-billion discovered Kish gas block in Iran even as it filed its first-ever commerciality report on the Farsi block.
OVL has estimated reserves of almost seven trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and one billion barrels of oil in this block, which will soon be taken up for development.
Unnamed sources said that the two partners, OVL and Petropars, have approached the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for joint development of the Kish gas field. The field is stated to have about 48 tcf in-place gas reserves.
Petropars is a subsidiary of NIOC, the national energy company that controls all Iranian oil and gas assets. It is understood that the issue was discussed with visiting Iranian delegation, headed by Danesh Jafari.
According to Iranian government sources, the value of natural gas and gas liquid products of Kish block is estimated to be around $30 billion.

IranÕs sugar industry is grappling with its most severe crisis in the past 110 years due to unorganized imports.

Sugar import tariffs will double to help domestic sugar mills which are facing the worst crisis in the past century to recover.
“Import tariffs of sugar will increase from 10 to 20 percent to support domestic producers,“ announced Commerce Minister Masoud Mir Kazemi.
Iran’s sugar industry is grappling with its most severe crisis in the past 110 years due to unchecked sugar imports.
Sugar imported this year can meet domestic demand for several years. While production stands at 1.4 million tons and domestic demand at about 1.9 million tons per year, over three million tons of sugar were imported.
“Higher tariff can help solve problems facing domestic producers to some extent,“ the minister told MNA on Saturday.
He said that financial assistances will be extended to sugar mills once funds are made available for the purpose.
Underlining that the price of sugar in domestic market is currently lower than last year’s price, Mir Kazemi noted that the government wants to solve the problems of sugar mills without creating hardship for the people.
Excessive sugar import coupled with low tariff rates and reduced market prices has created serious challenges for sugar mills.
Experts say that the price of sugar in the market is about 2,000 rials less than factories’ cost price. As a result, sugar mills have been unable to repay their debts to banks and farmers. 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.
Over 150 lawmakers wrote a letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ten days ago, calling for solving the challenges facing the industry. State Inspectorate Organization, in a report released earlier this year, called on ministries of commerce, labor and industries and mines to curb unchecked sugar imports.
The organization urged them to follow up self-sufficiency in sugar seriously.

Hossein Kazempour Ardebili

Iran’s OPEC governor has warned that any western sanctions on investments in its energy sector could endanger security of supply and also hit consumer countries.
Hossein Kazempour Ardebili declined to say whether he believed the world’s fourth-largest crude producer should use oil as a weapon in case of further UN sanctions in its dispute with the West over Tehran’s atomic activities.
He told the Persian daily ’Iran’ that he did not believe the country should deprive itself of means at its disposal but also suggested that any such action may hurt Iran too. “It should be said that making a decision that would harm the other party can (also) harm one self,“ Kazempour Ardebili said.
He further blamed economic and political crises for global oil spikes, adding that change in the supply and demand, weather and closing the oil export ports are also the reasons for the surge in oil price.
For the first time, oil prices hit $100 per barrel in the international market early this month.
“Crude futures jumped on a number of factors, including falling stockpiles of US gasoline, closing the Mexico oil export ports, tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, violence in Nigeria, political crisis in Lebanon and Pakistan and Iraq and the shutdown of the biggest refinery in the United States,“ he said.
Iran’s representative to OPEC predicted that the price surge will go on. “If the current situation continues, oil demand will reach to 113 million bpd in 2025,“ he added.
Turning to gas, the official said, “Constant economic growth and growing demand in the energy market boosted the share of natural gas in energy basket of the consuming countries, and the process will continue, requiring the countries with gas resources to launch large investments to build infrastructures for production, exploration and transfer of gas.“

Trade volume with Syria has reached one billion dollars, said Minister of Housing and Urban Development Mohammad Saeedikia.
Signing Memorandum of Understanding with his Syrian counterpart Amer Hosni Lotfi, he said that a joint Irano-Syrian-Venezuelan refinery would be constructed in Syria, ISNA reported.
Saeedikia underlined that Tehran and Damascus have taken great steps to promote their mutual ties.
Iranian state- and private-run companies have made many investments in Syria, he added.
Also, Amer Hosni Lotfi said that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have urged for expansion of relations between the two countries.
The first section of the MoU pertains to joint water supply project for southern Aleppo plain, construction of grain silo in Syria, power transfer project in an effort to reconstruct Banias power plant, projects regarding pumps, power plants and irrigation purposes in Al-Bab and Tadif regions, wagon construction, Iranian-based Metra projects and Syrian National Railway Institute, IRNA wrote.
The second part refers to investment for construction of a 450-megawatt power plant in Syria with cooperation of Iranian-based Mapna Company, expansion of Teshrin power plant and signing long-term accord for construction of power plants.
Finally, the third section includes the current issues between the two nations such as commercial preferences’ agreements, formation of Irano-Syrian bank, holding Iranian trade fair during the first quarter of 2008, activating the council of businessmen of two nations.
The two parts also agreed to hold the next gathering in Damascus three months after holding the Irano-Syrian Joint High Committee.

State Veterinary Organization has announced that migratory and indigenous birds have tested positive for H5N1 bird flu virus.
“Avian flu, earlier reported for migratory swans in the Anzali International Wetland in northern Iran, has been detected among geese, ducks and domestic hens in Barzanghib village near the wetland,“ the Organization’s chief, Mojtaba Norouzi told ISNA Friday.
“Laboratory tests in Italy confirmed that Iran’s wild and native birds had been infected by the H5N1 bird flu virus.“
The Organization culled domestic birds of the village to prevent the outbreak of the deadly virus in the vicinity of the wetland, he said, urging locals to avoid hunting.
H5N1 is the bird flu strain that scientists worry could mutate into a form easily passed to humans.
With thousands of migratory geese, ducks and other wildfowl heading for the province for the winter, local authorities are on high alert, he said.
The official had earlier told the news agency that the organization destroys any poultry in places where birds have been detected with suspicious respiratory diseases.
Iran had officially announced an outbreak of bird flu among migratory birds in late 2005.
It was reported last week that Indonesia and Iran reached a tentative deal to co-produce bird flu vaccines.

Tehran and Ankara are continuing talks on restoring Iranian gas to Turkey which stopped about two weeks ago due to domestic shortages. “We are still in talks with Iran to resume export of 30 million cubic meters of gas per day to Turkey,“ Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Iran shut off exports to Turkey on January 7 after finding itself with gas shortages caused by a sharp rise in domestic consumption due to unprecedented cold weather and a sudden decision by Turkmenistan to halt supplies to the north and northeastern parts of the country.
The stoppage of Iranian gas to Turkey forced a halt in Turkish exports to Greece via a newly-opened pipeline.
It was reported earlier that Iran would begin gas exports to Turkey by January 14.
Meanwhile, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president, Friday blamed foreign companies and suppliers for shortages in natural gas used for heating during an unusually cold winter.
Rafsanjani told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran that foreign companies were the cause of the shortages. “They did not fulfill their tasks in gas production projects in the south of the country and the projects were delayed,“ Rafsanjani said.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) and France’s Total SA (TOT) have contracts to develop gas fields in southern Iran. But Iranian officials have criticized the companies the past year, suggesting they were slowing their work under US pressure.
Rafsanjani also blamed neighboring Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan said the halt was in part because of late Iranian payments, as well as slow repairs on a pipeline on its side of the border.
“Really, Turkmenistan moved unpleasantly,“ Rafsanjani said. “If they have claims over payment, they should have waited until the end of winter. They should not have disturbed people of a neighboring, friendly Muslim country.“