Business
Nov 9-13, 1998 / Aban 18-22, 1377
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Today
* Bulgaria, Iran seek to revive economic ties, trade
* 1.6 bln of goods smuggled to Iran a year-official
Previous
* British energy industry delegation due in Iran
* Smuggling blamed for currency freefall
* Cash-starved Iran asks West for $3 bln loan
* U.S. relaxes rules on petrochemical deals with Iran
* Iran official wants black forex market stopped
* Iran hauls satellite TV gear smuggled as tuna
* Turkey starts building gas pipeline
* Iranian parliament meets to discuss plummeting carpet
exports
* Russia's Tupolev seeking to build planes in Iran
* Iran to export... chocolate
* Azerbaijan oil decision delayed
* Khorasan No. 1 in rural electricity
* Rial falls to historic low on infaltion
* MP calls for $10 barrel oil price in budget
* U.S. firms lay groundwork for Iran oil investment
* Kazakhstan says plans to increase Iran oil swaps
* Iran, Saudi talk on oil but say no decision
* Iran works on law to protect local software
* 30,000 Iranian pilgrims visit Iraq in three months
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$ Rate
Updated November 13, 1998
* To send money to Iran, the rate is 680-700 tomans per
dollar, depending on how much you wish to send.
* To send money out of Iran, the rate is 705 tomans per
dollar.
Source: Sehaty Foreign Exchange. Preferntial rates for readers of The
Iranian Times. Call in U.S.: 602-595-0777 OR 500-288-8881,
Fax: 602-595-0222. Address: PO Box 3230, Carefree, AZ 85377,
USA. Mention this code: BAJ 07
Friday,
Nov 13, 1998
* Bulgaria, Iran seek to revive economic ties, trade
SOFIA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Bulgaria and Iran on Friday signed agreements
to encourage bilateral trade and investment in a step towards reviving
their once active economic links. Bulgaria's Transport Minister Wilhelm
Kraus and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Hojjati signed a bilateral memorandum
of understanding at the end of a joint session of an economic commission
that committed the two countries to boosting exports and cooperation in
agriculture and other areas... FULL
TEXT
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* 1.6 bln of goods smuggled to Iran a year-official
TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Each year more than $1.6 billion worth of
goods are smuggled into Iran, making up 50 percent of the country's underground
economy, a top economic official said in remarks published on Thursday.
``More than $1.6 billion worth of goods are annually smuggled into the
country,'' Iran Daily quoted Deputy Economy and Finance Minister Morteza
Qarebaghian as saying... FULL
TEXT
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Thursday
Nov 12, 1998
* British energy industry delegation due in Iran
TEHRAN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A delegation from the British energy industry
arrives in Tehran on Friday for a series of talks on potential oil and
gas projects, a British official said on Thursday. Several days of talks
were scheduled with representatives of Iran's state energy complex and
the private sector, the official said ... FULL
TEXT
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* Smuggling blamed for currency freefall
TEHRAN, Nov 12 (AFP) - An Iranian finance ministry official on Thursday
blamed illegal imports of goods for the dramatic fall in the value of the
national currency, the rial. Deputy Finance Minister Morteza Qarah-Baqian
said up to 1.6 billion dollars of goods were being smuggled into the country
each year. "This helps create a currency black market and contributes
to the instability in the exchange market," he said, quoted by newspapers.
He called on the government to eliminate the underground economy, which
he estimated represented between 15 percent to 30 percent of the total
economy... FULL
TEXT
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Wednesday
Nov 11, 1998
* Cash-starved Iran asks West for $3 bln loan
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The Iranian government, beset by doggedly
low oil prices and mounting debt, is negotiating with creditors in Japan,
Germany and Italy for $3 billion in bridge loans to stave off a default
on debt payments. ``They need to get that $3 billion as soon as possible,''
said an analyst close to the debt talks. ``If these three countries cannot
help them, then they may have to declare bankruptcy.'' ... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. relaxes rules on petrochemical deals with Iran
WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Tuesday relaxed
the reporting requirements for foreign affiliates of U.S. But a U.S. State
Department official on Tuesday emphasised that this is not an attempt by
the Clinton administration to improve relations with Iran: ``This is not
intended as a signal to Iran.''... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran official wants black forex market stopped
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official called on Wednesday
for a clampdown on Iran's black money market to stop a plunge in the value
of the rial which has fallen to record lows this week, state media reported.
``To prevent all instability in foreign exchange rates, the contraband
exchange market must be eliminated from the country's economy,'' said Deputy
Economy and Finance Minister Morteza Qarabaqian, quoted by Iranian television...
FULL
TEXT
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* Iran hauls satellite TV gear smuggled as tuna
TEHRAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Iranian police, suspecting something fishy
about a cargo of tuna tins, uncovered 255 banned satellite television receivers,
a newspaper said on Wednesday. The daily Jomhuri Eslami reported that the
contraband equipment was found in a truck which was supposed to carry tuna
according to its cargo bill... FULL
TEXT
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Tuesday
November 10, 1998
* Turkey starts building gas pipeline
ERZURUM, Turkey (AP) - Despite U.S. criticism, Turkey began building
part of a pipeline today to carry natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan
to Turkey and the rest of Europe. Turkey is also scheduled to receive Iranian
gas by mid-1999 through another pipeline, 188 miles long, already under
construction between the eastern city of Erzurum and the Iranian border
... FULL
TEXT
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* Majlis discusses plummeting carpet exports
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (AFP) - Iran's parliament met in closed session on Tuesday
to examine plummeting carpet exports, the state's second most important
source of revenue, state radio announced ... FULL
TEXT
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* Russia's Tupolev seeking to build planes in Iran
TEHRAN, Nov 10 (AFP) -Russian aircraft manufacturer Tupolev is in Iran
looking for a partner to begin local production of passenger planes, Iranian
radio reported Tuesday ... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran to export... chocolate
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Iran expects to export $300 million worth of food
stuffs this year (ends March 20, 1999), including $100 million worth of
chocolate... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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* Azerbaijan oil decision delayed
MOSCOW (AP) - A decision on a pipeline route for transporting the bulk
of Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea oil to the West has been postponed until early
December, an official said Tuesday. Several American oil companies have
invested heavily in the project, and the United States favors a proposed
pipeline through Georgia and Turkey. An alternate route would go through
Iran, a country that Washington considers unstable... FULL
TEXT
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* Khorasan No. 1 in rural electricity
Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Khorasan has provided electricity to 95 villages
this year, more than any other province in the country... FULL
TEXT IN PERSIAN
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Monday
November 9, 1998
* Rial falls to historic low on infaltion
TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Iranian rial fell to historic lows on
Monday, losing 2.8 percent against the dollar since late October on inflation
fears and concerns that the latest Iraq crisis could lead to open conflict.
Businessmen said the U.S. dollar fetched as much as 7,050 rials on Tehran's
illegal but active black market, compared to about 6,850 rials in late
October ... FULL
TEXT
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* MP calls for $10 barrel oil price in budget
TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Iran should base its 1999-2000 state budget
on an oil price of $10 per barrel, $2 less than in the current budget,
an Iranian member of parliament said in remarks published on Monday. ``It
would be realistic to set the price of each barrel (of crude) at about
$10 in the budget bill so that we do not face a budget deficit,'' Reza
Abdollahi, told the daily Abrar... FULL
TEXT
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* U.S. firms lay groundwork for Iran oil investment
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Smooth-talking American oil executives, eager to
pounce on lucrative deals in oil and gas giant Iran, are busy handing out
business cards in Tehran. Officials from major U.S. energy companies, who
are barred by their government from dealing with Iran, are using oil conferences
instead of boardrooms to explore future opportunities in the Islamic republic,
which is hungry for foreign investment... FULL
TEXT
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* Kazakhstan says plans to increase Iran oil swaps
TEHRAN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Dosayev Yevbolat
said his country planned to increase the amount of oil to be transferred
to Iran under an existing swap agreement, the official Iranian news agency
IRNA reported. Yevbolat, speaking at a Caspian Sea oil and gas meeting
on Sunday, did not say how much additional oil it intended to ship... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran, Saudi talk on oil but say no decision
TEHRAN (Reuters) - The oil ministers of OPEC majors Iran and Saudi Arabia
discussed sagging oil prices Sunday but said they reached no decision on
what to do. Asked if the two sides discussed ways to help lift the oil
market, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told Reuters: ``Yes.
We discussed the oil markets without any resolution. We talked and we tried
to close our opinions together.''... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran works on law to protect local software
TEHRAN, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Iran's parliament on Sunday gave initial approval
to a law protecting the intellectual property of software developers in
the country. In a session broadcast live on state radio, deputies passed
the outline of the government bill which would ban the illegal copying
of computer programmes registered by Iranian developers ... FULL
TEXT
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* 30,000 Iranian pilgrims visit Iraq in three months
TEHRAN, Nov 8 (Reuters) - More than 30,000 Iranian pilgrims have crossed
the Iraqi border to visit religious sites since the trips began in August,
a senior Iranian official said on Sunday. Jalaleddin Heidari, the head
of transport terminals in Kermanshah province which borders Iraq, said
30,716 pilgrims had made the journey in the past three months, the official
news agency IRNA reported... FULL
TEXT
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