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Cooperation With Persian Gulf States On the Rise
 TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iranian and Kuwaiti officials
conferred Monday in a meeting on facilitating ways to expand
bilateral trade ties, particularly in the private sectors.
The meeting was held in Kuwait City and attended by Iran’s
Head of Trade Development Organization Babak Afqahi and
Kuwaiti Minister of Industry and Trade Ahmad Rashid
al-Haroun.
The Kuwaiti minister expressed his country’s readiness to
remove the obstacles to bilateral cooperation in making
investments in the two countries.
Meanwhile, Afqahi said the Islamic Republic of Iran has
policy on fostering ties with the Islamic states, the
neighboring countries in particular.
He said Tehran and Kuwait City should take decisive steps to
raise the level of bilateral cooperation.
Afqahi later extended the invitation of Iranian Minister of
Commerce Mehdi Ghazanfari to his Kuwaiti counterpart to
visit Iran. The invitation was welcomed by the Kuwaiti side.
Iran’s head of Trade Development Organization heading a
delegation arrived in Kuwait City Sunday to take part in the
9th meeting of Iran-Kuwait joint economic committee.
Joint Investment
Iran's Foreign Investment Company (IFIC) Managing Director
Mehdi Razavi announced on Monday that Iran and Oman plan to
establish a joint investment company in the near future.
"Iran-Oman joint investment company's fund will be set up in
the near future and the executive policies of the fund have
already been worked out," Razavi said in an interview with
FNA on Monday.
He announced that the two countries would hold a 50% share
in the $50 m investment company.
Razavi also said that the company would make investments in
the different spheres of industry, mines, shipping,
transportation, trade, banking, agriculture, commerce, hotel
construction, maritime affairs, oil, gas and petrochemistry.
"The formation of the fund has already been approved by the
Omani government and we are waiting for the approval of the
Iranian cabinet," he added.
The Iran Foreign Investment Company (IFIC) was incorporated
in March 1998 as a Private Joint Stock company with a
mission to manage and expand Iranian holdings abroad.
IFIC, a holding company, provides financing and financial
services and makes investments around the world. IFIC has
interests in energy, telecom and IT, banking, insurance,
stock markets, industry, mining, oil, gas and
petrochemicals, as well as new and future technologies.
Currently IFIC has ventures in different world countries,
including Germany, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Yemen,
Namibia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia.
Joint Plant
Iran and Qatar are slated to build a joint electric-board
manufacturing plant in the next three months.
The announcement was made during a meeting between Governor
General of Iran's southern province of Bushehr Abutaleb
Shaffeqat and Qatari Minister of State for International
Cooperation and Conferences Khalid Bin Mohammad.
At the meeting, the Qatari side stressed his country's
preparedness to expand cooperation with Iran, specially in
economic fields.
"Accordingly, we have prepared the preliminaries to build an
Iran-Qatar joint plant which will manufacture electric
boards on a 30,000 s/m area," al-Atiyah, who is also Qatar's
acting Minister of Business and Commerce, added.
"The plant will be ready for operation within the next three
months," he continued.
The official also announced that a Qatari economic
delegation is due to visit Bushehr province soon to study
investment opportunities in the province.
He underlined that Qatar is ready to expand economic
cooperation with Iran in all potentials grounds, and added,
"We will start cooperation with Bushehr province and will,
then, expand them to the other Iranian provinces."
Shaffeqat, for his part, reminded his province's abundant
potentials and capacities for attracting investment, and
called on Qatari capital holders to invest in Bushehr
province.
The Iranian official also proposed that a joint market be
set up in Doha and Bushehr in a bid to increase exchanges
between the two sides' traders.
Babak Afqahi (C) and Ahmad Rashid al-Haroun
Broader Industrial Ties With
Tajikistan
TEHRAN (Mojnews) - Iranian Industries and Mines Minister,
Ali Akbar Mehrabian, and his Tajik counterpart, Shir Ali
Gol, reviewed industrial ties between the two sides at a
meeting held Sunday in Tehran.
Referring to Iran's achievements in various industrial
fields, Shir Ali Gol said that the Islamic Republic is one
of the most developed countries in industrial fields.
He invited Iranian industrialists to attend Tajikistan's
projects announcing readiness to take advantage of Iran's
industrial and mineral capabilities in his country.
"Tajik people are proud of cooperation with Iran as a
powerful regional country and they look for Iran's
technologies in their development plans," he said.
He appreciated Iran's cooperation to manufacture tractor,
car and aluminum in Tajikistan.
Mehrabian, for his part, referred to the cultural
commonalities including Persian language as important
factors in expansion of bilateral ties between Iran and
Tajikistan.
He also announced full readiness of Iran for further
expansion of industrial and mineral ties with the
neighboring Central Asian country.
The two sides agreed to boost ties in various fields
including production of electricity generators and compact
fluorescent lamps, establishment of cement factories,
geology, textile, leather and hide processing and
establishment of dairy plants.
Non-Oil Exports to China Up 47%
TEHRAN (Mojnews) - Iran has exported $2.669
billion of various non-oil products to China during the
first 11 months of the current Iranian fiscal year (started
March 20, 2009), a Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) of
Iran official said.
"Iran's non-oil exports to china in the first 11 months of
the current year valued at $2.669 billion showing $1.819
billion (47%) growth over the same period last year, head of
TPO for Asia and Pacific Affairs said.
Amir Talebi said that currently China is the second top
trade partner of Iran adding that the country accounts for
14.37 percent of Iran's non-oil export.
Liquid propane, iron ore, polyethylene, liquid butane,
methanol, paraxylene, marble, aluminum and copper are among
the major products exported to China during the mentioned
period, he added.
Iran, for its part, imports road tractors, steel profile,
and electric locomotives from china, according to him.
Malaysia-India Pact to Boost Trade
Ties
 NEW DELHI (Dispatches) - Asia’s third largest economy India
and Malaysia are working closely to tie up the Comprehensive
Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) by later this year,
which is likely to add fillip to the existing two-way trade
relations.
Visiting International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk
Seri Mustapa Mohamed met his counterpart Anand Sharma in New
Delhi to review the progress of the trade pact Friday during
his one-day visit to India.
“India can provide lot of stimulus to Malaysia’s growth. We
hope to achieve more things in 2010 and possibly conclude
CECA by end of August, and the agreement being signed in
Malaysia when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits in
October,” Mustapa told Malaysian corporate leaders at a
dinner Friday night.
“Minister Sharma and I have now agreed a process which
should ensure we meet this hard deadline. The breadth of the
agreement, covering services and investments as well,
reflects the level of our ambition which I have
characterized as ‘Asean+’,” he said.
Ranking India and China as important economic powerhouses in
the region, the minister said both nations “could help pull
along Malaysia’s growth” as huge trade and investment
opportunities exist between the three economies.
On India-Malaysia trade relations, Mustapa said the two-way
trade and investments flow were on a healthy trajectory, but
he wanted to see more Indian companies setting up bases in
Malaysia.
Last year, India was Malaysia’s 12th largest trading
partner.
Anand Sharma
Greece Seeks EU Support
 PARIS (AP) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that
Europe will show solidarity with Greece and will work with
its European partners to fight against speculation against
the euro.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has expressed
appreciation for France’s support as his government embarks
on a severe austerity plan to reduce its massive 12.7 per
cent budget deficit.
Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are seeking to
calm markets and bring down Greece’s high borrowing costs.
Sarkozy and Papandreou met Sunday ahead of the Greek prime
minister’s trip to Washington.
Merkel avoided giving Greece a commitment of financial
assistance, as Athens was rattled by more strikes and
violent protests by unions outraged by harsh economic
austerity measures.
Greece didn’t ask for financial support, and Germany didn’t
offer any in talks Friday between Merkel and Papandreou,
while Merkel said there would be a common push to crack down
on market speculation that has led Greece’s cost of
borrowing to skyrocket.
He will be in Washington on Tuesday.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy (R) delivers a speech next
to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou during a joint
press conference at the Elysee presidential palace, in Paris
No Cuts in Portugal Austerity Plan
LISBON (Disptches) – Portugal's long-term budget
austerity plan encompasses spending cuts via reducing tax
breaks and containing public sector wages, but entails no
Greece-style wage cuts or tax hikes, local media said on
Sunday.
The minority Socialist government on Saturday approved the
guidelines of the plan, to be presented to Brussels later
this month, but postponed the release of details, sought by
markets demanding commitment to deficit and debt cuts, to
this week.
Officials have said the program combines public spending
cuts with fiscal stability, but would not elaborate.
Markets have been jittery about Lisbon's large budget
deficit, which spiked to 9.3 percent of gross domestic
product last year, since Greece's fiscal crisis erupted.
Concern focuses on sharply rising debt servicing costs due
to the impact of the deep economic slowdown, although both
Portugal's deficit and debt are much below Greece's.
Without quoting anyone in particular, Diario de Noticias
daily said the government will cut tax breaks linked to
healthcare and education from 2011, reduce public investment
and impose taxes on profits made in the stock market.
It said that a freeze on public sector salaries will be
extended at least for another year beyond 2010.
China Cautions Against Expecting
Fast Yuan Rise
 BEIJING (Dispatches) – Any rise in the yuan's
exchange rate will be gradual, China's trade chief said on
Monday in comments that underline the competing interests at
the heart of Chinese policy-making.
Commerce Minister Chen Deming said a halt to the yuan's
appreciation since mid-2008 was part of a panoply of
pro-growth policies to prop up the economy during the global
credit crunch.
"Exiting from the stimulus does not mean all these measures
will disappear. They will still be there, but there will be
some fine-tuning," Chen told Reuters on the sidelines of the
country's annual session of parliament.
China has effectively re-pegged its exchange rate at around
6.83 yuan per dollar since mid-2008 to help its exporters
during the global financial crisis and is under intense
pressure from the United States and Europe to abandon the
peg.
"The movement and degree of stability in the yuan in times
of crisis ought to be different from when there is no
crisis," he said. But he added: "The direction of yuan
reform will be gradual and controlled."
Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, speaking on Saturday,
also stressed the need for policymakers to proceed with
caution.
But Zhou broke new ground by stating that exiting the
stimulus would sooner or later spell the end of the "special
yuan policy" adopted to counter the financial crisis.
Shell, PetroChina Bid for
Australian Gas Company
SYDNEY (AFP) – Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina
joined forces for a US $2.96 billion bid for Australia's
Arrow Energy on Monday, hoping for a bigger slice of the
country's booming liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.
The energy giants offered 4.45 Australian dollars (US$4.04)
per share, or about 3.26 billion Australian dollars, sending
the coal seam gas firm's shares rocketing some 47 percent to
$5.11.
Shell and PetroChina are also offering shares in a new
company made up of Arrow's international business, which is
set for an initial public offering.
"At this stage the Arrow Board recommends shareholders take
no action in relation to their Arrow shares," Arrow said in
a statement, adding that it had appointed financial and
legal advisers.
News of the bid, which could herald a shake-up in the
burgeoning LNG industry, helped send Australia's stock
market nearly one percent higher to 4,807.9 as resources
companies surged.
Arrow claims to have the largest reserves of coal seam gas
in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland, in its
holdings at the Bowen and Surat Basins.
Australia has already signed contracts worth tens of
billions of dollars with Asian countries for the
clean-burning LNG created from natural gas, which is chilled
into liquid form for shipping.
Analysts say the country is set to become the "Middle East
of gas" and outstrip Qatar as the world's biggest LNG
producer as Asian demand surges for the fuel.
They said Shell, which has also teamed up with PetroChina to
develop shale gas resources in China, could use Arrow's
assets to push forward plans for a Queensland coal seam gas
plant producing up to 16 million tons of LNG a year.
PetroChina gas station in Beijing |
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