Friday,
August 7, 1998
* UK, Iran discuss ways to improve relations
LONDON (IRNA) - Ways to improve bilateral relations were discussed
at a first meeting between british foreign office minister derek fatchett
and iran charge d'affaires in london gholamreza ansari here wednesday afternoon.
the foreign office described the talks as "useful" on a start
of a more constructive relationship. the need was to develop political
dialog and practical cooperation on matters of mutual interest as well
as addressing issues of concern, a spokesman said... FULL
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* Egyptian official: wide horizon open for cooperation
ATHENS (IRNA) - Egypt's new head of interests section in tehran, minister
plenipotentiary mohammad rifah al-tahtawi, has expressed optimism over
the future of egyptian-iranain relations. in statements made to egyptian
newspaper al-shaab published friday, the egyptian diplomat said both egypt
and iran were exerting efforts to build confidence and to explore horizons
and scope for cooperation between them... FULL
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* Reaching out, if he can
(The Economist) - SINCE Iran's would-be liberal President Muhammad Khatami
took office a year ago, he has been too busy with the political battle
against conservatives to spend much time worrying about the economy. Now
the statistics have made it impossible to go on like that. On August 2nd
the president called for sweeping economic reforms. "Our economy
is chronically ill. It will not be cured unless we make fundamental changes,"
he said. He promised to cut the size of government, slash red tape, and
try to attract more foreign investment. The main challenge is to create
more jobs for the swiftly growing number of unemployed young people. An
estimated 1m youngsters join the labour force each year. The unemployment
rate is already an official 11%. With inflation at 20% or more a year,
even those with jobs find it hard to make ends meet ... FULL
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* Emami Kashani urges support for president's economic plan
TEHRAN (IRNA) - Substitute leader of friday congregational prayers
in tehran and spokesman of the guardians council ayatollah mohammad emami
kashani said today that economic restructuring of the country requires
also adhering to moral laws, and abiding by other laws and statutes.
Addressing thousands of worshippers at tehran university he said: "government
employees and administrators must behave consistently with good ethics.
the good ethics, which the late imam referred to it in terms of 'piety'
means abiding by the law, respecting it and eschewing from self centralism
and negligence in the performance of busineses ... FULL
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* UNESCO studies Caspian Sea pollution
TEHRAN, Aug 5 (AFP) - A 14-member UNESCO research team is sailing the
Caspian Sea in an effort to study pollution in the resource-rich waters
which hold one of the biggest energy reserves in the world, a UNESCO official
said. "It is the first time such a mission has been organized and
authorized to take action" since the breakup of the Soviet Union,
UNESCO official Ehsan Naraqi told AFP, adding that the research would be
the basis for "international action" to "save" the
Caspian... FULL
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Thursday
August 6, 1998
* Shell says pursuing upstream assets in Iran
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Shell is determined to establish a foothold
in Iranian oil exploration and production and is taking an active interest
in Irans recent upstream tender, a senior company official said on Thursday.
``We are determined to pursue a position in one of the major oil and gas
countries in the world,'' group managing director Phil Watts told reporters
after the company announced interim results.... FULL
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* Iran to boost exports, improve foreign exchange
TEHRAN, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday
Iran planned to encourage non-oil exports and improve the countrys foreign
exchange system in the first phase of the countrys economic recovery programme.
The official Iranian News Agency IRNA also quoted Deputy President Mohammad
Ali Najafi, who also heads the Plan and Budget Organisation, as saying
that certain services ``would be entrusted to the private sector and to
the cooperatives.''... FULL
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* Damage insurance payments
TEHRAN (Hamshahri) - Insurance companies paid out one billion tomans
in car damage compensation last year ... FULL
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Wednesday
August 5, 1998
* Car manufacturer looking for new foreign partner
TEHRAN, Aug 1 (AFP) - The Iranian car manufacturer Saipa, which used
to be allied with France's Renault, is looking to sign an agreement with
another foreign car firm for the manufacture or assembly of a new model
of compact car. Saipa advertised on Saturday in the Tehran daily Etellaat
the technical specifications of the model it hopes to produce... FULL TEXT
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Tuesday
August 4, 1998
* BP interested in Iran oil play but wary of
U.S.
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - British Petroleum said
on Tuesday it was talking to Iran about a number of non-Caspian oil blocks
but would not do anything to attract U.S. sanctions. Richard Olver, BP
group managing director and chief executive for exploration and production,
said the company was interested in oil development projects other than
activities discussed in the Caspian, but it was still ``very early days''
for any projects to materialise... FULL
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* MP calls for revision of fuel subsidies
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian parliament
deputy has called on the government to revise its broad policy of subsidising
domestic fuel prices. ``The government must provide the low-income classes
with the necessary subsidies but eliminate or minimise subsidies to the
rich,'' Morteza Zarringol, head of parliament's influential oil commission,
was quoted as saying by the daily Iran newspaper on Monday... FULL
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* Iran to build $20 million satellite with Asian states
TEHRAN, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Iran will join five Asian countries to build
a $20 million satellite for use in telecommunications and monitoring, Iran's
official news agency IRNA said on Tuesday. China, Pakistan, Mongolia, Thailand,
South Korea, and Iran would manufacture the satellite, expected to be launched
by 2001, Iran's Deputy Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Mehdi
Tabeshian was quoted as saying by IRNA... FULL
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Monday
August 3, 1998
* Khatami unveils policies to heal Iran's economy
TEHRAN, Aug 2 (AFP) - President Mohammad Khatami pledged to aim for
a fundamental revamp of Iran's economy on Sunday as he unveiled his policies
to attract foreign investment and fight unemployment and inflation. Khatami,
quoted by state-run radio, warned that the Iranian economy was "chronically
ill." "This will continue to be so unless there's fundamental
restructuring," said the president, who was speaking on the eve of
his inauguration ... FULL
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* Khamenei supports Khatami's ambitious economic reform plan
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on
Monday gave his full backing to sweeping reforms announced by moderate
President Mohammad Khatami to tackle the country's ailing economy. In a
letter to the president, Khamenei said the policies are "entirely
correct and I approve them." The Iranian leader also called on other
institutions of the regime to help the government in its efforts to rescue
the economy ... FULL
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* Iran formally invites bids for ``buy-back'' projects
DUBAI, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) on Saturday
formally invited foreign companies to bid for a string of ``buy-back''
oil and gas projects worth billions of dollars which were announced last
month. It is Iran's largest foreign oil and gas tender since the 1979 Islamic
revolution... FULL
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* Iran pre-sells oil to raise finances-central bank
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Iran will sell over $2 billion worth of its
oil on a pre-financing basis to compensate for a slump in international
crude prices, a senior Central Bank official said in remarks published
on Monday. Mohammad-Jafar Mojarrad, foreign exchange deputy of the central
bank, told Kar va Kargar newspaper that Iran had already sold $1.2 billion
of its oil... FULL
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* Iran hard currency revenue to drop sharply
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign currency earnings are expected
to drop to $10.5 billion in the current Iranian year from around $16 billion
a year earlier, a senior Central Bank official said in remarks published
on Monday. Iran still planned to repay $1.6 billion in foreign debt in
the current year, which ends on March 20, 1999, Mohammad-Jafar Mojarrad,
foreign exchange deputy of the central bank, told Kar va Kargar newspaper...
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* Iran allocates $117 mln to help create jobs
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Iran has allocated 350 billion rials ($116.6
million) in an effort to create jobs for the country's growing ranks of
unemployed youth, state television said on Monday. ``We hope to create
800,000 job opportunities for young people next year,'' the director of
Iran's Supreme Council for the Youth was quoted as saying on the afternoon
news... FULL
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