samedi, avril 30, 2005

Mahyar Monshipour, la France aux poings

Maintenir une conversation suivie avec Mahyar Monshipour ? Impossible dans les rues de Poitiers. Un bonjour par-ci, une poignée de mains ou une embrassade par-là, quelques nouvelles échangées plus loin : tous les dix mètres, il faut s'arrêter. "C'est la même chose à Marseille, tout le monde me reconnaît !" , constate celui qui devait défendre pour la quatrième fois son titre mondial des super-coq WBA, vendredi 29 avril, dans la cité phocéenne.

Mahyar Monshipour, 30 ans dont vingt comme Poitevin, aime qu'on le reconnaisse. Pas tant pour son visage, mais parce que "c'est dur d'être anonyme dans un pays qui n'est pas le sien au départ. Etre iranien, en France, c'est quoi ? Rien !" Il a donc "toujours été dans un rôle de séduction" , "toujours été le plus poli et le plus souriant possible" . Il lui fallait "échapper au rôle du petit immigré" . Et même "devenir une personnalité" .

Contrairement à la plupart des boxeurs, Mahyar Monshipour n'est pourtant pas issu d'un milieu où ce sport permet de prendre l'ascenseur social. Il aurait dû être médecin. C'est en tout cas ce que souhaitait son père, sous-préfet de police à Téhéran du temps du chah et des débuts de la révolution islamique. Son grand-père, originaire de Bam, était un simple tailleur, mais tous ses enfants ont réussi ­ Mahyar a deux tantes qui sont enseignantes, une autre infirmière, et un oncle général.

En plein conflit irako-iranien, son père l'envoie en France, où il est accueilli par sa tante Mahnaz, installée à Poitiers avec son mari, l'ancien président Bani Sadr. Mahyar Monshipour a alors 11 ans et ne parle pas un traître mot de français.

Quelques années plus tard, après une année de médecine pour faire plaisir à son père, alors émigré au Canada, il obtient une licence de sciences techniques activités physique et sportive (Staps). Insuffisant pour lui. "Si j'avais été prof de gym, je n'aurais été que le "petit Arabe" qui a réussi ses études. Il me fallait être tout en haut de l'affiche. C'est passé par la boxe parce je pense que j'étais fait pour ça."

Il devient professionnel en 1996. Six ans plus tard, il est champion de France et d'Europe. "Le mental de Mahyar est exceptionnel, il a une détermination qui sort de l'ordinaire, s'extasie Jean-Claude Bouttier, ancien champion d'Europe, consultant pour Canal+ et à l'origine de la Ligue professionnelle de boxe. C'est un boxeur spectaculaire, au style très généreux."

Quiconque a assisté à l'un de ses combats peut en témoigner. Calme et posé hors des cordes, il saute littéralement sur son adversaire dès le premier coup de gong, lui assène une grêle de coups à la vitesse de l'éclair. C'est à se demander comment ses concurrents ne partent pas en courant face à un tel possédé. Comme s'il devait toujours en faire plus pour parvenir à ses fins, sur le ring ou ailleurs, comme s'il n'avait pas terminé de payer une dette.

"Aujourd'hui, j'ai l'impression de mériter le droit d'être français, parce que je contribue à l'avancement de ce pays." L'histoire de sa naturalisation renferme une blessure. Onze ans après son arrivée, en 1997, il avait déposé une demande, alors qu'il venait de remporter le Tournoi de France. La réponse n'est venue que deux ans et demi plus tard. Négative, au prétexte qu'il était étudiant. "J'étais très déçu parce que j'avais toujours été irréprochable. Les seuls moments où je me rends compte que je ne suis pas né en France c'est lorsque, dans la conversation, on parle de dessins animés ou de chansons qui datent d'il y a vingt ou vingt-cinq ans et que je ne connais pas. Mais l'histoire de France, je la connais bien mieux que beaucoup des gens que je fréquente."

Mahyar Monshipour est finalement devenu français en 2001, grâce à l'intervention de Françoise Imbert, députée (PS) de Haute-Garonne, qui dit avoir compris, grâce à lui, "les valeurs que véhicule ce sport, le respect de l'autre, l'humilité, la ténacité" . "C'est sa rencontre, raconte l'élue, qui m'a amenée à créer l'Amicale parlementaire du noble art."

Comme avant chaque combat, Mahyar Monshipour a encore dit, avant d'affronter le Japonais Shigeru Nakazato à Marseille, qu'il abandonnera la boxe en cas de défaite. "J'adore ce sport, mais je suis détaché par rapport à ce milieu." Réalisée depuis longtemps, sa reconversion le comble. Il est directeur adjoint des sports au conseil général de la Haute-Vienne. C'est dans ce cadre qu'il a créé Sport éducation 86, une structure qui permet à quelque 150 garçons et filles de 11 à 25 ans de s'initier à la boxe éducative, une discipline où les coups ne sont pas portés. "Nous touchons des populations disparates, avec des imaginaires et des fantasmes complètement différents. Ça permet à des enfants de milieu rural et de cités urbaines de se rencontrer. Ma fierté est là."

De l'Iran, il gardait un très mauvais souvenir, "l'impression d'y avoir vécu dix ans en apnée" . "Ma mère m'a abandonné lorsque j'avais 2 ans, explique-t-il, je ne voulais plus entendre parler de mon pays." Jusqu'au jour, en décembre 2003, où la terre tremble à Bam, le lieu de ses origines, au sud-est du pays. Il se rend dans la ville ravagée, n'y voit "que des gens dignes" , découvre un peuple avec lequel il se "réconcilie" . "J'en suis parti la tête haute."

A son retour, il crée l'association France-Bam Solidarité, afin de construire une école dont les travaux devraient commencer cet été. Mahyar Monshipour y retournera en juillet en compagnie de son épouse, Anne, psychologue, en espérant entre-temps avoir trouvé les 70 000 euros qui manquent pour boucler le budget.

"Ce n'est pas un fardeau, mais une charge. Il faut que j'aille jusqu'au bout de ce projet. Je serai soulagé et fier quand tout ça sera fini. Je n'avais pas ça dans l'âme mais c'est normal de faire ce que nos moyens nous permettent." Un simple geste de solidarité, comme ceux, qu'il n'oubliera jamais, que fit "madame Billy" , cette institutrice à la retraite qui lui donnait des cours bénévolement, ou "monsieur Mathieu" , le principal du collège Ronsard qui l'accueillait en 6e.

"Dans quatre ou cinq ans, dit-il, plus personne ne me demandera d'épeler mon nom. Mes futurs enfants n'auront pas à le faire non plus." Et Mahyar sera peut-être devenu un prénom français.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1975 Naissance à Téhéran (Iran).
1986 Arrivée à Poitiers (Vienne).
2001 Naturalisé français.
2005 Défend pour la quatrième fois son titre de champion du monde des super-coq WBA.

LE MONDE | 29.04.05 |

Safety fears at new Iran airport

Britain and Canada have advised travellers not to use Iran's main new international airport because of concern over its safety, just hours before the airport was due to receive its first flights.

"We are aware of reports that the runway at the new Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran may not yet be suitable for use," the British Foreign Office said of the airport, due to open on Saturday.

"We are in contact with the Iranian authorities about this. Until the situation has been clarified, we advise British travellers to travel by flights using the existing (Mehrabad) airport."

The Canadian government issued a virtually identical warning. It was not immediately clear whether any other countries were giving the same advice.

Iran said the runway had been approved by international experts.

"I don't know the reason behind this advice," said Reza Jafarzadeh, spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation.

"The runway is ready and this has been approved by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), otherwise the organisation wouldn't have issued permits for today's flights," he said.

The opening of the Imam Khomeini International Airport, built to serve the capital Tehran, has already been aborted once, when military vehicles swarmed onto the runway and closed it down a year ago after an inaugural flight had landed.

The military had expressed concern about security as the airport was being run by a Turkish company. After a year of wrangling the airport will now be operated by Iranian carriers, led by flagship airline Iran Air.

Flights to and from the airport, 45 km south of Tehran and designed to replace the ageing Mehrabad International Airport close to the city centre, were due to resume on Saturday afternoon with carriers serving the nearby United Arab Emirates.

Flights from other Gulf destinations will be added from May 9 and all international flights will use the new airport by March 2006, Jafarzadeh said.

Neither Britain or Canada said exactly why they were concerned about the safety of the runway.

But an Iranian aviation source has told Reuters buildings at the new site have suffered from subsidence and there were fears the runway could not cope with the weight of a heavy aircraft landing on the tarmac.

Some European carriers, expected to switch flights to the new airport in coming months, have expressed concern about the lack of public transport links to the new site, which, because of Tehran's traffic congestion, can take more than 90 minutes to reach from parts of the capital.

vendredi, avril 29, 2005

Norwegian firm win 'breakthrough contract' in Iran

LONDON, April 28 (IranMania) - Norway's Aker Kvaerner announced Wednesday that it had won a "breakthrough" contract for the project management for South Pars phases 9 and 10.

"It is also a significant recognition of Aker Kvaerner's project execution skills," said the company, which has a history as a product and technology supplier in Iran, providing processing equipment, drilling equipment and well heads.

"This is a good project for Aker Kvaerner. Our track record on executing large projects and the teaming up with a competitive Iranian partner were important winning factors for the contract", its Executive Vice President Simen Lieungh said in a press release obtained by IRNA.

The four-year contract, which starts immediately, is estimated to be worth $25 mln out of the total development project for phases 9 and 10 at South Pars.

Aker Kvaerner, a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions, has partnered with local Tehran-based Hirbodan and said that it would assist the national operator Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC).

The assignment will employ approximately 10 persons from Aker Kvaerner and 40 staff from Hirbodan, which was said to have a strong track record of management for several major projects.

The total development cost of $1.8 bln for the project is being executed by a consortium lead by GS E&C in Korea, teamed up with the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company and the Oil Industries Engineering & Construction Company.

The phases are to produce an output of 2 bln cubic feet gas per day from offshore platforms and transported via subsea pipelines to onshore gas treatment facilities. After treatment the gas will be sent to the domestic gas network, and extracted condensate exported.

Iran to reopen its largest airport Saturday

LONDON, April 28 (IranMania) - Iran is set to finally reopen its biggest airport on Saturday, putting behind months of bickering which has kept it shut down since it was inaugurated by President Mohammad Khatami almost a year ago, Iran Daily reported.

According to civil aviation authorities on Wednesday, Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) will initially handle all flights on the route between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

"All flights of domestic and foreign companies from Tehran to the United Arab Emirates and vice versa will be carried out from the Imam Khomeini International Airport, effective April 30," the statement said.

"According to this statement, the landing and take-off of these flights from Mehrabad Airport will not be authorized," it added.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Civil Aviation Organization, Reza Jaafarzadeh, said all flights from and to Iran to the Persian Gulf littoral states, barring Saudi Arabia, will take place from the IKIA, starting May 9.

"Effective May 9, all flights of domestic and foreign companies from Iran to the Persian Gulf littoral states, including UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait and vice versa, but not Saudi Arabia, will take place from Imam Khomeini International Airport," he said.

Iran's armed forces closed down Imam Khomeini International Airport on May 8, 2004, citing security concerns, just after it was officially inaugurated with the landing of a foreign aircraft.

They had stressed that the airport would remain closed as long as 'security provisions' were not met.

Officials have said that the IKIA will eventually be able to handle 40 million passengers a year, making Tehran a regional transport hub.

The dispute beat all the way up to the Iranian parliament, leading to the impeachment in October of transport minister Ahmad Khorram, whose ministry had awarded the IKIA contract to the Turks.

The parliament also passed an urgent bill, giving itself the prerogatives to scrap the two contracts if they are deemed a threat to national security.

The decision prompted the Government to postpone President Khatami's planned visit to Turkey.

Iran had initially awarded the Turkish-Austrian consortium Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV) to build and operate the IKIA.

Transport Minister Mohammad Rahmati was quoted in February as saying that Iranian officials had accepted to cede the IKIA to a consortium of six domestic entities if parliament removed TAV from the picture.

"In the event of the Majlis' opposition to the participation of the Turkish company TAV in the IKIA deal, the situation will change across-the-board," the daily Kayhan quoted him as saying.

Rahmati said the government as well as the transport ministry were awaiting parliament's decision on whether to engage TAV in the deal.

Another Turkish deal to build the first Iranian private mobile network has faced a similar snag.

In February, parliament decided to trim down Turkish
telecommunication major Turkcell's stake in the project to a non-controlling 49 percent share, citing security concerns.

"The division of shares among Irancell shareholders must be carried out in a way that the Iranian companies' stake does not go below 51 percent," the parliament declared in approving the bill.

Parliament also decreased Turkcell's subscription price to about dlrs 125 per line from the company's suggested price of dlrs 178.

The deal is facing further blocks as the Guardian Council, which screens all parliamentary laws, was recently reported to have demanded more changes to the contract to remove security concerns.

The original deal was worth 385.7 million dollars, giving Turkey's leading GSM operator, Turkcell, a 70-percent stake in the project, called Irancell to operate 16 million lines over a period of 15 years.

Telecommunications Minister Ahmad Motamedi has stated that the current Iranian mobile phone network, providing connection to 3.5 million subscribers in a country of 70 million, lags 10 years behind the rest of the world in updating its technology.

"Bridging this gap in the short-term through traditional methods is certainly impossible," he says.

According to the communications minister, the Irancell deal, better known as the Second Operator in Iran, is 'one of the solutions to overcome this problem'.

"A simple estimate indicates that if we rely on the capability of the First Operator, given the 25-fold increase in the country's capacity, it will take between eight and ten years to meet the existing demands (for mobile phones)," Motamedi says.

mardi, avril 26, 2005

Iran, Sweden cooperate in the field of energy

LONDON, April 26 (IranMania) - Iranian professor in Sweden's Boras University on Monday acknowledged to cooperation between Iran's High Institute of Water and Power Industry Applied Sciences and Boras University in generation of energies that would be a substitute to fossil fuels.

Professor Mohammad Jafar Taherzadeh, who accompanies vice- chancellor of Boras University Ulf Hanning in his visit to Qeshm Island to sign training cooperation agreement with the Iranian Institute, said based on a joint plan most energies which do not exist in Iran and could be a substitute in future to the fossil fuels are included in the cooperation plan.

Referring to generation of electricity from garbage, Taherzadeh said any success for generation of electricity from Tehran's garbage, would provide a logical solution to the environmental problem, helping the country meet its electricity shortage.

He said the wind and solar energies as well as all the energies which exist in Iran and have been developed in Sweden, would be discussed in training courses in Iran.

lundi, avril 25, 2005

Turkish telecom deal in Iran hits another snag

TEHRAN: A hard-line political watchdog has ordered that a contract with Turkish telecoms company Turkcell for Iran's second mobile telephone network must undergo more changes, a report said Sunday. According to the student news agency ISNA, the Council of Guardians is not convinced that new security provisions in the contract decided on by the conservative-held Parliament did not go far enough in protecting Iranian interests.

The decision was made while the council - which screens all laws - examined legislation that reduced Turkcell's stake in the operation from 70 percent to a minority 49 percent.

"We need to make some corrections in the presence of a Council of Guardians representative," Ramezanali Sadegh-zadeh, an MP who heads the parliament's telecommunications commission, told ISNA.

Turkcell was awarded the contract in February 2004 subject to the payment of a $366-million license fee, but Parliament moved to revise the deal.

Deputies said having telecommunications provision in the hands of a foreign company was a danger to national security.

The problems surrounding the contract have stalled the development of a badly needed second mobile network, and has also hit relations with Turkey.

Iran's reformist government has accused MPs of being bad for foreign investment. It also remains uncertain whether Turkcell will accept the revisions to the contract. -
AFP

Iran allows foreigners to buy 10 percent of bourse

Iran allows foreigners to buy 10 percent of bourse
Move opens up $4.6 billion in assets


Foreigners will be able to directly buy up to 10 percent of shares of the companies listed on Tehran stock exchange (TSE), waiving case-by-case permits required in the past, the bourse chairman told state radio on Sunday.

Tehran bourse lists 422 companies valued at $46 billion. The new directive opens $4.6 billion worth of assets to foreign investors.

"Foreign investors can buy up to 10 percent of shares of the companies listed in the bourse," Tehran bourse board chairman Haydar Mostakhdemin-Hosseini told the state radio.

It was not immediately clear when the new rules would come into effect.

Investors could in the past buy up to 49 percent of Iranian companies' shares, but were required to seek permits from the government, a process analysts described as painstaking.

Mostakhdemin-Hosseini added that foreign investors would still only be allowed to repatriate their dividends after three years, in line with Iran's foreign investment law.

Iran has followed on the heels of other Middle Eastern bourses by allowing foreigners to purchase limited amount of shares. Foreigners are allowed to purchases shares in Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi was quoted earlier in the year as saying the TSE needs fundamental structural reforms to attract over investment from Iranian expatriates. Younesi estimated that expatriates held up to $800 billion in capital, adding that the government has not done enough to attract potential investment to develop economic development and growth in Iran.

According to research published in Mehr News Agency, Iranian expatriated living in the U.S, U.K, Germany and the U.A.E have well over $500 billion in assets.

Experts have said that due to Iran's small capital market any minor developments could drastically sway the value of shares.

Iran's bourse more than doubled in value last year. - Reuters

Iran Khodro Eyes Peugeot, Daimler Lines, Not Rover

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Iran Khodro Co., Iran's largest carmaker, is interested in buying assembly lines from France's Peugeot SA and Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG, not from the U.K.'s bankrupt MG Rover Group Ltd., its chief financial officer said.

Iran's ISNA student news agency reported on April 21 that Iran Khodro and domestic competitor Saipa Group, were considering buying MG Rover, quoting an unidentified official of Iran's Ministry of Industries and Mines.

``Iran Khodro managers haven't held any negotiation with Rover,'' Iran Khodro CFO Reza Raie said in a telephone interview in Tehran today. ``Maybe we'll purchase production lines from Germany and France -- from DaimlerChrysler and Peugeot, for example. That's under discussion, not Rover.''

MG Rover, the maker of MG sports cars, is in the process of firing about 5,000 workers after Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. scrapped takeover talks and left the insolvent company near collapse. PricewaterhouseCoopers on April 8 took over the MG Rover's carmaking and engine units, which date back 100 years.

Khodro, which in December secured a $100 million loan from international banks led by Standard Bank Group, is increasingly relying on foreign expertise to build cars. It's expanding cooperation with Peugeot, whose 405 and 206 models it already assembles since 1998. Last year, it turned to Renault SA and completed an agreement to produce low-consumption, low-cost Logans as early as March 2006.

Additional Funds

Khodro needs to borrow an additional 500 million euros ($653 million) to invest in projects including assembling Mercedes- Benz's 300 and 220 models, Peugeot's 307 and Renault's Logan, Khodro said in October. The company said it may sell bonds as part of its financing plan.

``We're negotiating with BNP Paribas to issue bonds,'' Raie said today, declining to provide an amount or a timeframe.

The government-controlled carmaker, which was founded in 1962, plans to boost production to 550,000 vehicles this year from 450,000 cars in 2004, Raie said.

Khodro's deals with foreign carmakers will help replace Iran's national pride, a retro-style car called Paykan that went out of production this month after 32 years. The car, a favorite among Tehran taxi drivers, is a descendent of Britain's Hillman Hunter. The Paykan consumes as much as 17 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers (13.8 miles per gallon), more than twice that of a Logan, adding to the city's growing pollution problems.

Abroad, Khodro has signed investment contracts in Syria and Senegal to assemble Samand cars, its best-selling model, starting next year.

Negotiations with ``other Middle Eastern countries as well as CIS states are also under way,'' the CFO said.

The country will also start producing Samands in China as part of a $60 million joint venture project from next year, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported today. Production will start with 20,000 units and rise to 120,000 in three years, IRNA said.

By Marc Wolfensberger in Tehran at mwolfens@bloomberg.net

Coopérations avec l’Azerbaïdjan dans le domaine de l’énergie et des transports

Bakou, le 10 janvier 2005 - A l’occasion de la 6è session de la commission conjointe de coopération économique Iran-Azerbaïdjan se tenant à Téhéran du 8 au 12 janvier, représentants et experts nationaux font un bilan des projet de coopération bilatérale dans le domaine de l’énergie et des transports.

Le principal projet de coopération énergétique est la reconstruction du gazoduc qui transportait autrefois du gaz iranien par Astara pour être distribuée en ex-URSS. La rénovation du gazoduc qui devrait durer jusqu’à la fin de l’hiver prochain devrait permetter le transport de 5 à 7 millions de m3 de gaz liquide naturel par an. Un autre volet de coopération consisterait à relier les réseaux de distribution électrique des deux pays.

Dans le cadre de coopérations sur les transports, l’Iran et l’Azerbaïdjan vont également étudier le projet de ligne de chemin de fer reliant Téhéran à Astara.

samedi, avril 23, 2005

Grands projets conjoints entre Iran et Tadjikistan

Téhéran, le 22 avril – Téhéran et Douchanbé pourraient tenter de contrer d'éventuelles menaces communes, en renforçant leur coopération.

Le président iranien Mohammad Khatami a évoqué de grands projets conjoints (centrale hydroélectrique de Sangtouda, tunnel Anzob, projet d’une autoroute Iran-Afghanistan-Tadjikistan) avec le ministre de la Défense tadjik, Cherali Khaïroulloïev. Ce dernier a parlé de coopération irano-tadjike notamment pour maintenir la stabilité et la sécurité dans la région centrasiatique.

Par Jean Granoux, source RIA-Novosti

mercredi, avril 20, 2005

Internet : Ebauche d'un projet de loi sur l'Internet présente une menace pour la libre expression

L'ÉBAUCHE D'UN PROJET DE LOI SUR L'INTERNET PRÉSENTE UNE MENACE POUR LA LIBRE EXPRESSION, SELON REPORTER SANS FRONTIERES (RSF)


Dire son opinion sur Internet pourrait devenir une activité beaucoup plus risquée en Iran si la proposition d'un avant-projet de loi visant à mettre un terme au « contenu nauséabond » est adoptée, prévient le groupe Reporters sans frontières (RSF).


Le projet de loi proposé « sur le châtiment des délits liés à Internet » contient un certain nombre de dispositions qui auraient pour effet de restreindre gravement la liberté d'expression en ligne, dit le groupe membre de l'IFEX. Il prévoit des peines de prison allant jusqu'à trois ans pour la diffusion « d'informations qui constituent une menace pour la sécurité intérieure ou extérieure du pays », et de cinq à quinze ans de prison si ces informations sont fournies à « des États étrangers ou des organisations étrangères ».

Une autre disposition prévoit une peine de six mois de prison pour la diffusion de « fausses informations » concernant le Guide suprême de l'Iran, l'ayatollah Ali Khameini, et d'autres officiels du régime. L'avant-projet de loi impose à tous les fournisseurs d'accès et cybercafés de surveiller les activités de leurs clients et de bloquer tous les sites « nauséabonds » ou illégaux, dit RSF. Ceux qui refusent d'obtempérer seraient passibles d'emprisonnement pouvant aller jusqu'à cinq ans et être interdits de travailler dans le secteur de l'Internet. Les fournisseurs de services Internet et les cybercafés seraient également tenus de conserver pendant trois mois l'ensemble des données de connexion ainsi que l'identité de leurs clients.

Selon RSF, cet avant-projet de loi s'inscrit dans le cadre des mesures récentes du gouvernement iranien en vue de renforcer la censure à la suite des élections législatives de février dernier. Dans un cas, Mojtaba Lotfi, un ancien journaliste du journal réformateur « Khordad », a subi un procès en juillet pour « espionnage » et « publication de fausses informations » après avoir affiché sur le site web http://www.naqshineh.com un article traitant des droits de la personne.

Consulter les sites suivants :

- RSF : http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=11065
- Dossier sur la censure de l'Internet en Iran :
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10669
- Filtrage de l'Internet en Iran : http://opennetinitiative.net/advisories/001/
- Blogging Takes Off in Iran : http://www.ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1073610866.php

Iran blocks UK relic auction

by Lawrence Smallman

Tehran hopes for Unesco's help in retreiving Persepolis relics

Iran has temporarily prevented British auctioneers Christie's from selling a 2500-year-old relief fragment, saying it was smuggled out of an ancient Persepolis site some time between 1933 and 1974.


Cultural official Yunis Samadi said on Tuesday that his government was prepared to take further legal action if the world-famous auction house refused to return the artifact.

The limestone relief, featuring a head of an Achaemenid soldier, is said to have come from the eastern stairways of Apadana palace, which was built by Xerxes I. The Persepolis site is in the modern-day Fars province.

According to Samadi, the piece was smuggled out of Iran "some time between 1933 and 1974", when it is thought to have gone on auction at another British house, Sotheby's.

The legal complaint marks the first time Iran has tried to retrieve Persepolis artifacts from foreign countries.

"We can prove the relief belongs to Iran. It has to return as it has been illegally taken out of the country," Samadi said. "Pictures from the stairway show the relief fits in perfectly."

Christie's reply

A spokeswoman for the British auction house, Clare Roberts, told Aljazeera.net on Tuesday that a London court had indeed ordered the fragment be withdrawn from sale to enable Iran to put forward evidence in support of its claim.

"Christie's was happy to comply because, as a responsible auctioneer, we wish to give Iran the opportunity to research its claim and satisfy itself that there is no basis for its claim," he said.

"We can prove the relief belongs to Iran. It has to return as it has been illegally taken out of the country. Pictures from the stairway show the relief fits in perfectly"

Yunis Samadi,
Iran's cultural affairs spokesman

Roberts added that the relief's provenance had been published in both its catalogue and website, demonstrating the relic had been publicly and legitimately traded in 1974.

Christie's insisted that Tehran had never given the auction house an opportunity to discuss Iran's claim but rather had made its objection to the same to just 48 hours before the sale - despite some very public advertisements in Iran and around the world - and had provided no evidence to support its claim.

When contacted by Aljazeera.net, Iran's cultural attaché in London refused to confirm any details about its case or the evidence for its claim.

Unique site

A perfect example of ancient Persian art, the piece depicts one of the famous Achaemenid warriors walking ahead of a delegation that carries gifts to the king.

Persepolis was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire and was founded by Darius I in 518 BC. The city was built on an immense half-artificial, half-natural terrace, where Darius created an impressive palace complex inspired by Mesopotamian models.

The importance and quality of the monumental ruins make it a unique archaeological site.

It was to be auctioned on 20 April, for at least $380,000, according to the cultural heritage organisation website.

Iranian official Samadi hopes to have international community's support in returning the Achaemenid soldier as Persepolis is inscribed on Unesco's World Heritage List.

Earlier in January Britain handed back more than a 100 artifacts looted from the ancient city of Jiroft in southeastern Iran and smuggled out of the country.

mardi, avril 19, 2005


Iran Oil Diplomacy Posted by Hello

L'Iran entreprendra des actions juridiques pour le retour d'une antiquité

TEHERAN, 18 avril -- L'Iran lancera des actions juridiques pour le rapatriement d'un bas-relief de l'empire persan entré clandestinement en Grande-Bretagne il y a 70 ans, a rapporté lundi le journal local Teheran Times.

Une plainte sera déposée à Londres contre le propriétaire actuel de l'antiquié par l'Organisation du tourisme et de l'héritage culturel (OTHC) de l'Iran, demandant son rapatriement, a affirmé Yunes Samadi, un responsable de l'organisation.

Le bas-relief, qui représente la tête d'un soldat de l'époque Achéménide (559-331 avant J-C), a été enlevé d'un escalier du Palais d'Apadana à Persépolis, capitale cérémoniale de l'ancien empire persan. L'antiquité est sortie d'Iran par contrebande pour arriver en Grande-Bretagne il y a 70 ans, et a été vendue aux enchères chez Sotheby, l'une des plus grandes maisons de ventes aux enchères dans le monde, selon M. Samadi.

L'OTHC a préparé les documents prouvant que l'antiquité appartient à l'Iran. Les preuves seront soumises au tribunal de Londres, a-t-il affirmé.

Persépolis figure dans le patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco et appartient à l'humanité entière. Toutes les organisations culturelles internationales doivent faciliter le rapatriment de cette pièce, a déclaré le responsable iranien.

Facing Global Sanctions, Iran Uses Oil Fields to Seek Alliances

EHRAN, Iran - As it faces the threat of global sanctions from the United States and Europe because of suspicions that it is turning its nuclear program to weapons production, Iran is fighting back with a powerful weapon of its own: its vast oil and gas resources.

Iran's ruling clerics are meticulously arranging energy sales and building partnerships with influential countries, including China and India, as a way to win stronger friendships around the world.

The rising price of oil, nervousness in the energy markets and the scramble by fast-growing countries to secure their own access to oil supplies has lately played into Tehran's hand.

This renewed push to turn underground riches into political power complicates the Bush administration's attempt to isolate Iran, which holds 10 percent of the world's oil deposits and has the second-largest gas reserves.



High-profile talks with European negotiators continue over the future of its nuclear program, as does the threat of United Nations sanctions and American action in the background.

But in the meantime, Iran has approached China and India, two of the largest and most dynamic consumer markets, and promised them long-term supplies of gas and access to oil exploration.

In addition, Iran last year granted Japan, traditionally its largest customer in Asia, even greater access to oil.

"Iran wants to diversify its strategic alliances and is looking to the East," said Ali Ghezelbash, an oil analyst at Atieh Bahar Consulting, a business consultancy in Tehran. "China and India are huge consumers of energy and could be very powerful allies for Iran on the international scene."

As American oil companies are barred from investing in Iran because of unilateral sanctions, Iran's policy is opening the door to their state-owned rivals in Asia to build up oil and gas reserves as a counterweight.

There is no guarantee, though, that Iran's clients will necessarily turn into political allies. Moreover, Iran's ability to buy friendships is undermined by its own limitations. While the country pumps close to four million barrels of oil a day, it spends $2 billion each year to import fuel because of a lack of refining capacity. Then it spends another $3 billion to subsidize gasoline that is sold here at one of the lowest prices in the world - 8 cents a liter, or about 30 cents a gallon.

And nearly a third of Iran's production is unavailable for export because it is tied up in domestic consumption, where much of it is squandered by inefficient cars, badly insulated homes or wasteful industries.

"Iran definitely has geology on its side," said Vincent Lauerman, the editor in chief of Geopolitics of Energy, an industry newsletter based in Calgary, Alberta. "But if you look at the fields that are producing, these tend to be mature and declining."

Still, for all its problems, Tehran is definitely making progress in its geopolitical campaign. In January, Iran said it would provide India with liquefied natural gas for 25 years, an agreement valued at $40 billion. It also gave India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Company, ONGC, a 20 percent stake in the Yadavaran oil field, a 300,000 barrel-a-day project.

That agreement came on the heels of a similar deal signed in October, a commitment to supply China with natural gas over 30 years that also granted China's state-owned oil company, Sinopec, a 50 percent stake in Yadavaran, which holds an estimated 3 billion barrels of oil reserves. This came with a potential value of $70 billion.

Iran is also trying to persuade the strategic rivals India and Pakistan to agree to the construction of a $4 billion pipeline that would carry Iranian gas through Pakistan to India.

In the meantime, after years of fruitless talks, Japan's Inpex last year was granted a $2 billion development contract for the Azadegan field, Iran's largest discovery in the past three decades, with an estimated 26 billion barrels of reserves.

"It is very clear, for example in the case of China, that their energy interest in Iran gives them a stake in the game," said Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy based in New York. "Their position is much more engaged here because of their energy policy."

Oil-rich countries, of course, have long used their resources to expand alliances, make new friends or punish adversaries. Nor is energy diplomacy something new for Iran; in the 1970's when the shah ruled Iran, the country was very active in using its oil to build up political support, particularly with the West.

But Iran's Islamic regime is finding that its oil weapon can be a double-edged sword.

With the bulk of the world's oil reserves concentrated in the Persian Gulf and production elsewhere slowly waning, Iran knows that it has time on its side.

"The world will be consuming growing amounts of oil and only five or six countries can supply this," said Mehdi Hashemi, a son of Iran's former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who maintains ties with the oil ministry. "Iran is one of them."

In 1995, Mr. Rafsanjani, who was president then, even tried to lure the United States into improving relations by granting Houston-based Conoco a $1 billion oil development deal.

But the strategy backfired. Ten days after the announcement, President Clinton banned American companies from contributing to Iran's oil sector.

The following year, Congress passed the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, or ILSA, which threatened penalties against American and non-American companies investing more than $20 million in Iran and Libya's energy sectors.

"Whenever Iran has wanted to get closer to a country it has used its oil diplomacy," said Siamak Namazi, a managing director at Atieh Bahar, the Tehran consultancy. "But the history of American-Iranian relations has been that when one opens the window, the other nails it shut."

Iran is counting on outside help to bolster its stagnating production. After nearly two decades of isolation, the clerical rulers of Iran have realized they cannot afford the massive expansion and modernization the industry needs without capital and expertise from abroad.

Since the mid-1990's, foreign investors, mainly European and Asian companies, have poured about $15 billion into Iran's oil and gas industry. But the country's energy resources remain tired and have never really recovered from the Islamic revolution of 1979.

After the clerics toppled the shah, they cut their oil output by two-thirds to demonstrate their resolve to sever ties with the West; the Iranian industry then became a prime economic target in the eight-year war against Iraq. But when Iran signaled it was once again ready to open up access to foreigners, the United States imposed sanctions against its oil sector.

From a peak production of six million barrels of oil a day in 1974, Iran's oil output slumped to two million barrels in the early 1980's, and has since stabilized at around four million barrels a day, or 5 percent of the world's output.

"Iran has obviously suffered from the departure of the expatriates, from sanctions, from poor management, and from political interference," said Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London.

Iran's current expansion plans call for increasing oil production to 5.5 million barrels a day by 2010. But since fields have an annual rate of decline of 200,000 barrels a day, Iran actually needs to find an additional 2.5 million barrels a day - as much as what neighboring Kuwait produces - if it wants to meet its target.

Given the country's restrictive investment rules and the tense political environment, foreign investors are not rushing in. Recently, Lord John Browne, the chief executive of BP, angered Iranian oil officials when he said that to do business with Iran at the moment would be "offensive to the United States and therefore against BP's interests."

Energy has been at the center of Iranian politics ever since the first foreign concession was granted in 1901 to William Knox D'Arcy, an English businessman. It still holds a central part in the nation's recent history - from the creation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the nationalization of the oil sector in 1951, and the CIA-led coup to topple the leftist prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, two years later.

The question remains very much alive today in Iran, where foreign ownership of petroleum assets is constitutionally prohibited and where energy policy is vigorously debated in Parliament.

"It's true throughout the Middle East, but the public here is very emotional about the oil issue," Mr. Takin said. "In Iran, the memories of the past are still very vivid."

But as with any high-stakes business, Iran's energy diplomacy is partly a bluff. For many oil executives here, the decisive coup would be, as it tried in 1995, to attract American companies back - but this time lock them in.

"We've been in this business for over a hundred years," said Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, a senior adviser to Iran's foreign and oil ministries. "Security of supplies is our bread and butter. If the United States is looking for security of supplies, Iran is an inevitable partner."

dimanche, avril 17, 2005

Renforcement de la coopération commerciale entre Espagne et Iran

2005-04-17

TEHERAN, 16 avril (XINHUANET) -- L'Iran et l'Espagne ont signé samedi à Téhéran un mémorandum d'entente pour renforcer la coopération commerciale entre les secteurs d'affaires et privé des deux pays, a rapporté l'agence de presse iranienne, IRNA.

En vertu du document, les deux parties échangeront leur information économique et commerciale pour connaître les réglementations commerciales étrangères et les opportunités commerciales de chaque partie.

Le mémorandum d'entente souligne la nécessité de faire participer l'Iran et l'Espagne aux activités de recherches conjointes. Il appelle également les deux parties à organiser des séminaires commercial et économique.

Il établit aussi le cadre pour la coopération bilatérale dans le domaine d'investissement et encourage leurs sociétés commerciales à prendre part aux expositions internationales dans les deux pays.

Le mémorandum d'entente a été signé par l'Organisation iranienne pour le développement commercial et l'Institut espagnol du Commerce extérieur en marge de la 10e exposition internationale du Pétrole, du Gaz et de l'Industrie pétrochimique qui s'est ouverte jeudi à Téhéran.

samedi, avril 16, 2005

Oil Sector Needs $150b

Sharq, Daily Newspaper, Apr. 16th, 2005

President Mohammad Khatami was not in Tehran when Iran’s tenth oil, gas and petrochemical exhibition started its four-day work on Thursday. This is the last Oil Show under the second term of Khatami which ends in June. A total of 691 Iranian and 438 foreign companies are taking part in the exhibition France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Russia, the Netherlands, Australia, India, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, Scotland, Monaco, Kuwait, Denmark, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Austria, Poland, New Zealand and the Republic of Czech are present here.


Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says high oil prices create an alluring environment for investments in the oil sector.

“High oil prices can create new capacities in the oil contracting companies,” Zanganeh told the opening of Iran’s Oil Show.

“The growing trend of crude prices will promote the capacities of oil contractors both inside and outside our country,” he said.

The minister noted that Iran was targeting to become the biggest producer of petrochemicals in the region in 10 years.

“Iran will earn 20 billion dollars from petrochemical sales, be the second
OPEC producer with seven percent of the world’s production and exporter of ten percent of the world’s gas through pipeline or within liquefied natural gas form,” he said, adding that the refineries would be able to handle 700,000 barrels of heavy crude.

Zanganeh said the country needed around 150 billion dollars of investment in its upstream and downstream oil sectors to reach its long-term objectives.

“Our buy-back deals will hit around 70 billion dollars in seven years,” said the minister.

Managing-Director of National Iranian Gas Exports Company Roknoddin Javadi says oil companies can identify their future partners in the annual oil shows held in Tehran.
“Annual oil, gas and petrochemical exhibitions serve as a good opportunity for oil firms to know one another and press ahead with their commerce,” he said.

Javadi said such exhibitions are meant for promotion of ties and creation of opportunities for cooperation.

Deputy Minister of Commerce Khosrowtaj says Iran’s oil shows are the most significant specialized events of the year.

“Numerous reasons are behind the unprecedented growth in the number of oil, gas and petrochemical exhibitions in Iran. Our strategic reserves represent one reason,” he told the opening of Iran’s Oil Show.

He said Iran’s liberalization plans, privatization and encouragement of foreign investments were other reasons.

“Today, the conditions have drastically changed and our companies handle many national projects,” he said.

The official stated that Iran was cooperating well with Britain, Australia,
Canada, France, Russia and South Korea in oil projects.

“Iranian contractors can handle important jobs now. They are also contributing to construction of jetties in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. Our foreign engineering deals reach 960 million dollars,” he said.

Zanganeh said Iran will accept any decision adopted by OPEC to adjust its production.

“Any decision OPEC makes to either increase or keep its crude output is acceptable for Iran,” Zanganeh told reporters on the fringes of Iran’s Oil
Show.

The minister said Iran has not yet received any telephone call regarding changes to OPEC production.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries raised output limits by 500,000 bpd to 27.5 million bpd in mid-March and left room for a second rise before a June ministerial meeting if prices failed to ease below $55.

Le Parlement approuve le budget pour l’année 1384 (mars 2005 – mars 2006)

Le Parlement iranien a approuvé le 9 mars 2005 à une large majorité (159 voix pour, 37 contre et 14 abstentions) le projet de budget présenté par le Président Khatami le 9 janvier 2005 dernier. Le texte finalement adopté propose une hausse globale de 2,9 % du budget initialement défendu par le gouvernement qui tient pour l’essentiel à la décision du Parlement d’augmenter les dépenses de fonctionnement de certaines institutions comme le centre de recherches du Parlement, le Conseil des Gardiens ou encore la Cour Suprême. Le texte a été approuvé par le Conseil des Gardiens le 16 mars.

Le principal objectif est une croissance soutenue du PIB de 7,1% par une allocation optimale des ressources, une meilleure productivité et ce dans le cadre d’une plus forte discipline budgétaire. Concernant le chômage, l’objectif est de réduire son taux d’un point à 10,4% de la population active. L’inflation ne doit pas, quant à elle, dépasser 14,5%. Les exportations non pétrolières affichent une croissance de 10% pour atteindre 8,5 milliards d’USD tandis que les importations progresseraient de 5% pour atteindre 32,3 milliards d’USD.

Pour atteindre ces objectifs, le budget arrête un nombre imposant de mesures
dont notamment :

- l’instauration d’une discipline financière par une meilleure allocation de crédits de fonctionnement qui devront être financés prioritairement par des recettes, conformément à l’article 2 du 4ème Plan,.

- l’autorisation de prélever jusqu’à 8 milliards d’USD sur l’OSF pour financer des projets du secteur privé,

- la vente au secteur privé d’au moins 20% des parts du gouvernement dans les industries publiques (3,7 Mds USD de recettes escomptées, soit + 46% par rapport au budget précédent,

- l’affectation des recettes de privatisation des banques au remboursement de la dette auprès du système bancaire et à la recapitalisation de la compagnie d’assurance publique Bimeh Markazi,

- la décentralisation et la réduction de la taille de l’Etat avec le transfert crédits des organismes publics au secteur privé afin de réduire le rôle de l’Etat

- la mise en place d’un système unifié de sécurité sociale,

- l’ouverture aux capitaux étrangers porteurs de croissance et d’emploi,

- la réduction de 20% des crédits bancaires obligatoires par rapport à l’exercice précédent,

- l’augmentation de la productivité des sociétés publiques par le biais des privatisations, la suppression des monopoles et le développement de la concurrence.

Le montant total du budget approuvé par le Parlement s’élève à 1 590 000 milliards d’IRR soit environ 175 Mds USD (pour 1USD = 9 095 IRR), soit +34,3% par rapport à l’exercice précédent. Ce chiffre inclut non seulement le budget du gouvernement mais aussi celui des entreprises et des banques publiques.

Les priorités sectorielles arrêtées concernent principalement le secteur de l’énergie, la pétrochimie, le développement urbain, les transports et les secteurs sociaux avec notamment :
- la mise en service de 6 nouveaux barrages
- l’augmentation de la capacité de production thermique de 1 657 MW,
- l’augmentation de la production pétrochimique à 27 millions de tonne par an et une hausse des exportations des produits pétrochimiques de 1,7 à 3,6 milliards d’USD
- la mise en service des égouts et de station de traitement des eaux usées dans 30 villes.

Assalouyeh, Locomotive Of Growth

ASSALOUYEH, Bushehr, April 16--President Mohammad Khatami said on Saturday the oil and gas region of Assalouyeh has turned into the heart of Iran’s economy, appreciating efforts by domestic and foreign companies to develop energy projects in the southern area, ISNA reported.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of phases IV and V of the huge development project for the world’s largest gas field, Khatami said job creation, technology transfer and introduction of modern management systems are amongst the greatest achievements of these projects.

He expressed hope that his government would help determine the future course of the remaining 20 phases.

Terming natural gas as a God-given asset, the chief executive said hydrocarbon resources must be used to advance economic development.

After inaugurating the two phases, the president and his entourage inspected the facilities.

Two phases of South Pars are aimed at daily production of 50 million cubic meters of natural gas, 80,000 barrels of gas condensate, 400 tons of sulfur and one million tons of ethane as the feedstock for Jam Petrochemical Plant, as well as for exporting 1.05 million tons of liquid gases a year.

Buyback projects for the development of these phases were launched in August 2000 by the National Iranian Oil Company in partnership with Italy’s Eni (60 percent stake), Petropars (20 percent) and Nikou Company (30 percent).

These projects involved construction of two giant submersible platforms and sea jackets, drilling 13 out of 24 wells, laying 32-inch marine pipelines stretching over 100 kilometers and production of 56-inch pipelines for transferring gas from Kangan refinery over 67 kilometers.

These projects also featured construction of 142 thermal converters and pressure equipment, construction and installation of desalination facilities, manufacture of cables and precision instruments, production of different kinds of industrial paints, design and implementation of civil operations and construction of two-layer tankers, first-ever maintenance of LPGs and installation of steel structures in the refinery.

More than 17,000 personnel were involved in the three-year project for construction of onshore and offshore refineries which has raised Iran’s share of extraction from South Pars gas field which is also shared by Qatar.
Transfer of technical know-how and promotion of the expertise of Iranian workers as well as increasing Iran’s share of spare parts production and offering related services are among other achievements of these projects.
South Pars gas field contains more than 8 percent of the world’s and more than half of Iran’s gas reserves.

mercredi, avril 13, 2005

India-Iran pipeline : The Iran Imbroglio

US objections to India-Iran pipeline are short-sighted, anti-progress. It is time for a radical new paradigm on every front, one that looks at countries and possibilities in the future, not the past.

SEEMA SIROHI - Outlook India - 13 april 2005


WASHINGTON

The Bush Administration is making every effort to show that it means business with India. It is trying to dispel the notion that India got only "words" from America in the Good Friday package, not a change of heart. Foreign Minister Natwar Singh’s visit this week will hopefully clear some of the fog when he meets his counterpart, Condoleezza Rice.

But what the meeting is unlikely to resolve is the disagreement over India’s plans to build a natural gas pipeline from Iran via Pakistan. The $4.16 billion pipeline threatens to become a major irritant in bilateral ties because of Washington’s deeply ideological and strident stand against Iran, one of the two standing members of the "Axis of Evil," the other being North Korea. During her visit to India last month Rice clarified that India could come under the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act or ILSA which calls for sanctions against any country or company that invests $20 million or more in Iran’s energy sector. She then offered an "energy dialogue" to India to help take care of the country’s crying needs.

The Bush brigade considers Iran a nuclear weapons wannabe and a gathering place for terrorists. It wants none of its friends to help Iran gain legitimacy, however strong the compulsions. But India is going ahead with its plan and hoping the maturity of Indo-US relations will take care of the rest. Indeed, Washington could look at engagement with Iran as a real option. Both India and Pakistan need to maintain relations with Iran, albeit for different reasons. The nascent stirrings of democracy and the student demonstrations in Iran a few years ago were a good sign but the Bush Administration squelched all hope by ignoring them and looking the other way. Regime change might have been in the making but the harsh line taken by the White House helped the hardliners.

The Clinton Administration had begun a tentative process of rapprochement, sparking hope among American diplomats that they may reopen their embassy in Teheran sometime in the future. Today, that thought today seems far away and foreign. Not only is the Bush Administration determined to squeeze and sideline Iran, it wants to warn and punish anyone else that deals with it.

But its opposition to the India-Iran pipeline is short-sighted. Because the pipeline will run through Pakistan, it will give Islamabad a booty of $600 a year in transit fees for simply being there and guarding it. It is a CBM worth promoting. After the Americans have been urging India and Pakistan for years to become friends, it seems odd, at the very least, that Washington should oppose the biggest CBM on the anvil almost automatically. In its place, Rice offered an energy dialogue the details and scope of which are still being decided. Why not do both -- let the pipeline through and conduct a dialogue? India’s need for energy is desperate and it can surely absorb both.

India imports nearly 70% of its annual energy requirements, and is forced to ferry gas from Iran by ship. Iran, the site of the world’s second largest gas reserves after Russia, needs to sell. The pipeline will also help Iran gain a measure of legitimacy and acceptance in the world community which can work as an incentive to moderate its behaviour. To humiliate an ancient civilization is never a good idea. The people may hate their leaders and the mullahs who divine the lengths of their hair and skirts, but they hate foreign occupation even more.

Additionally, the pipeline will help India and Pakistan develop real stakes in each other’s economy, creating additional momentum for peace. Two nuclear-armed neighbours building real bridges instead of being on the brink of war -- the most favourite nightmare of Washington types. The pipeline project could be extended to China via Myanmar, says Mani Shankar Aiyar, India’s irrepressible petroleum minister, opening possibilities and ideas unimagined even a year ago. India would gain immensely if China is amenable, earning hefty transit fees in return.

Perhaps, the idea of an increasingly trading, confident and inter-connected Asia makes the Americans a tad uncomfortable. Trade between India and China is already growing at a faster clip than Indo-US trade, a fact that rankles many in Washington. But why try to manage a new world with old ideas and old laws?

It is time for a radical new paradigm on every front, one that looks at countries and possibilities in the future, not the past.

Le parlement iranien adopte une loi légalisant l'avortement dans certains cas

AP | 12.04.05


TEHERAN, Iran (AP) -- Le parlement iranien a adopté mardi une loi autorisant l'avortement, à certaines conditions très strictes, ont annoncé les médias officiels iraniens.

L'avortement sera désormais autorisé si la vie de la mère est mise en danger par la grossesse ou bien si le foetus est malformé. Mais l'interruption de grossesse devra être autorisée par trois obstétriciens et par d'autres spécialistes, rapporte la radio publique.

L'agence officielle IRNA a précisé pour sa part que c'était la première fois en 26 ans que le Majlis (parlement) osait débattre d'un telle loi, car craignant qu'en légalisant les avortements ceux-ci ne deviennent monnaie courante.

La loi n'autorise en revanche pas l'avortement des grossesses non désirées.
Des avortement illégaux sont pratiqués en Iran, mettant en danger la vie des femmes, mais on ne dispose d'aucun chiffre.

L'un des défenseurs du texte, le député Noureddine Pirmoazzen, a déclaré lors du débat qu»'interdire l'avortement n'a pas réussi à réduire le nombre d'avortements. Cela n'a fait qu'accroître le nombre de décès chez les femmes».

Le député Mahmoud Madani, détracteur de la loi a, quant à lui, déclaré qu'un tel texte équivaudrait à «légaliser le meurtre des enfants à naître».

Le débat parlementaire était diffusé en direct sur Radio Téhéran.




Iran: le parlement pour l'avortement

Le parlement conservateur iranien a adopté mardi un projet de loi autorisant l'avortement dans certains conditions


Cette loi autorise l'avortement durant les quatre premiers mois de la grossesse si la vie de la mère est en danger ou si les médecins constatent une malformation du foetus.

Le projet doit à présent être soumis au Conseil des gardiens, organe ultra-conservateur qui juge de la conformité des textes avec la loi islamique en vigueur en Iran.

"L'avortement est autorisé avec le consentement du couple et si trois médecins confirment, durant les quatre premiers mois de la grossesse, que le foetus est mentalement ou physiquement handicapé, infligeant ainsi une charge financière à la famille, ou si la vie de la mère est menacée", dit le texte approuvé par 127 des 217 députés présents lors d'une séance retransmise par la radio d'Etat.

Dans la législation actuelle, l'avortement n'est autorisé que si les services de la médecine légale certifient le diagnostic de trois médecins selon lesquels la vie de la mère serait menacée par la poursuite de la grossesse. Il est également permis si le foetus est voué à mourir avant ou après la naissance et avant le terme des quatre mois de grossesse.

Sinon l'avortement est un crime, qui peut valoir à la femme et à celui qui le pratique trois à dix ans de prison et le paiement du "prix du sang", la valeur vénale de la vie d'un être humain. La législation a fait de l'avortement clandestin un commerce florissant et lucratif pour des faiseurs d'anges plus ou moins compétents et scrupuleux.

Selon la presse, au moins 80.000 femmes recourent chaque année aux expédients pour mettre fin à une grossesse. Mais des spécialistes estiment que le chiffre véritable est bien plus élevé.

mardi, avril 12, 2005

Iran, Qatar extraction of South Pars equalized

12 avril 2005

TEHRAN — Iran’s extraction of the huge gas field of South Pars will be soon equalized with that of Qatar through the inauguration of phases 4 and 5, said Akbar Torkan, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Co. on Monday.

“Iran already failed to extract gas in South Pars as much as Qatar did, but presently the two countries have equal production as a result of inauguration of phases 4 and 5 of the South Pars, determined to be carried out next Saturday in the presence of President Mohammad Khatami”, Torkan told ISNA.

He added that according to the plan, Iran will put Qatar behind in 2012 in producing gas when the current projects of the South Pars are complete.

Meanwhile, the managing director noted that Qatar has new and important projects for the next couple of years, which could lead to positive consequences for it.

In 2000, National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) delivered project of developing phases 4 and 5 of the South Pars to the consortium of the Italian Eni (60 percent), Petropars Co. (20 percent), and Nikoo Co. (20 percent) in buyback contracts.

The majority of the Iranian companies participated in construction operations of refineries of phases 4 and 5, as over 45 percent of the whole operation was implemented by the domestic companies.

Iran and Qatar which are jointly using the South Pars have launched serious competition on extracting it.

According to the latest reports, Iran has planned producing LNG from three phases of the South Pars as much as 35 million tons and has so far attained the primary agreements of purchasing 20 million tons of it. Furthermore, the country is currently seeking new ways of presenting Indian, Korean and European markets in order to purchase the rest 15 million tons of LNG.

Additionally, Iran’s recent agreement valued at $100b to export gas to China is among other successful efforts of the country to present the world gas markets and compete with Qatar in this regard.

Qatar has launched production in the South Pars since 1991 and has so far extracted 190 billion cu. m, which is more than Iran’s share by 6 times.

L'Iran compte se vendre prochainement sur CNN et la BBC

10/04/2005

La République islamique compte faire prochainement sa promotion touristique sur les télévisions américaine et britannique CNN et BBC, a déclaré à l'AFP un vice-président iranien, Hossein Marachi.

Les rapports tendus entre la République islamique et les Etats-Unis n'empêchent pas l'Iran de vanter ses attraits sur une chaîne américaine, a dit M. Marachi, vice-président chargé du tourisme.

Les sanctions infligées aux entreprises américaines qui commercent avec les Iraniens "ne s'appliquent pas en l'occurrence", a-t-il dit.

Ainsi CNN et la BBC devraient commencer sous deux mois à diffuser des spots publicitaires sur l'Iran, en vertu d'un contrat d'un an, a-t-il dit sans parler d'argent.

"Nous avons en effet eu de longues discussions" avec les Iraniens à ce sujet "et nous sommes optimistes quant à un lancement de la campagne", a dit à l'AFP le chef des relations publiques de BBC World, Kevin Young, en soulignant cependant que l'affaire n'était "pas encore finalisée" et qu'aucune date n'était arrêtée.

BBC World pourrait ainsi diffuser des spots de 30 à 60 secondes pendant six mois, a-t-il dit.

"Nous ne nous exprimons pas sur des accords commerciaux tant qu'ils n'entrent pas en vigueur, et un tel accord n'est pas entré en vigueur", s'est contenté de réagir Nigel Pritchard, porte-parole de CNN International.

"C'est nous qui leur fournirons les films. Ils montreront les sites touristiques iraniens", a déclaré M. Marachi. "On n'y verra pas la prière du vendredi", a-t-il plaisanté.

Il ne s'agit pas de convaincre les Américains d'entreprendre le voyage, mais de toucher le public des deux télévisions à travers le monde et de développer une industrie sous-développée par rapport au potentiel existant, a-t-il expliqué.

La campagne sur CNN et la BBC sera ainsi suivie par la diffusion de spots sur les chaînes d'une vingtaine de pays de la région, d'Europe et d'Asie, a-t-il dit. Les centaines de milliers d'Iraniens vivant aux Etats-Unis "sont aussi une cible et nous tâcherons de les atteindre à travers les chaînes iraniennes par satellite", a dit M. Marachi, précisant que les chaînes "contre-révolutionnaires" iraniennes, qui diffusent notamment de Los Angeles, ne feraient évidemment pas partie du lot.

"Les Etats-Unis sont une cible ultérieure". Selon lui, moins de 500 Américains visitent l'Iran chaque année. "Nous ne menons pas une politique visant à attirer les touristes américains, nous ne leur délivrons pas facilement des visas", a-t-il reconnu.

Les Américains entrant en Iran doivent donner leurs empreintes digitales, en représailles à une pratique analogue appliquée aux Iraniens aux Etats-Unis.

L'Iran, qui bénéficie d'un patrimoine considérable mais sous-exploité, entend faire passer le nombre de ses visiteurs étrangers d'un million aujourd'hui à 20 millions dans vingt ans, a dit M. Marachi.

L'Iran, trois fois plus grand que la France, abrite des sites aussi exceptionnels que Persépolis, Ispahan ou Yazd. Pays de culture ancienne, il présente aussi une variété de paysages qui s'étend des forêts de la Caspienne aux rivages du Golfe en passant par les déserts du centre et les chaînes de l'Alborz et du Zagros.

Pour M. Marachi, l'Iran souffre plus de son manque d'hôtels et des carences de ses transports que des années d'isolement après la Révolution de 1979 et de son image de pays dont le programme nucléaire défie la communauté internationale ou qui impose le foulard aux étrangères. "Nous comptons investir 30 milliards de dollars sur les cinq prochaines années" pour y remédier, a-t-il dit, ajoutant que les touristes, notamment les femmes, devraient continuer à se plier aux règles locales.

"Le tourisme rapporte actuellement 500 M USD par an à l'Iran et l'objectif est d'arriver à 25 milliards dans vingt ans", a-t-il déclaré, "désormais, les touristes étrangers peuvent obtenir un visa d'une semaine à leur arrivée à l'aéroport de Téhéran et ce visa peut être renouvelé une fois. D'ici un mois, on pourra obtenir un visa touristique par internet."

Elections présidentielles de juin 2005 - Du conservatisme et de la vitalité de la scène politique

Courrier international - 11 avr. 2005
ÉLECTION PRÉSIDENTIELLE EN IRAN - Du conservatisme et de la vitalité de la scène politique

Les rituels électoraux se poursuivent et s'intensifient dans la république islamique d'Iran, qui en fait la mesure de sa légitimité et de sa crédibilité auprès de l'opinion internationale ainsi que de ses adversaires. Certes, les hommes qui s'y investissent sont ceux-là mêmes qui occupent la scène politique depuis vingt-cinq ans. Toutefois, le système politique a fait preuve d'une très grande flexibilité. Dès 1988, la Constitution de 1979 a été révisée. Mais son application et ses limites n'ont pas cessé d'être un sujet de débats et de tensions entre les différents groupes politiques. La demande, par une fraction des réformateurs, d'un référendum statuant sur l'opportunité d'une nouvelle révision aurait pu se transformer en crise ingérable. Mais les dirigeants ont coupé court à la manœuvre, et l'approche de l'élection présidentielle (le 17 juin) a mis un terme à la polémique.

L'ensemble des forces politiques affirment se situer dans le cadre de la Constitution, se contentant pour certaines d'entre elles de regretter qu'elle ne soit pas intégralement appliquée. Le président sortant, Mohammad Khatami, a ainsi fait observer que l'on n'avait pas usé de toutes les potentialités de la Loi fondamentale.
Il faut ici souligner que la Constitution, au même titre que le Coran, se prête à l'exégèse. Elle semble ainsi être à la fois un cadre légitime de l'action politique et une ressource d'innovation quant à ses modes. Ainsi va la république islamique d'Iran entre des moments de crise et des moments d'apaisement à l'initiative des républicains soucieux de sauver l'"honneur" d'un système dont dépend leur survie. Cela ne doit néanmoins pas faire négliger le renouvellement progressif de celui-ci, dont les élections, aussi imparfaitement démocratiques soient-elles, sont l'un des mécanismes. D'ores et déjà, la prochaine consultation permet d'observer un certain nombre de tendances.

• La frénésie associationniste. La formation des partis ou des groupes politiques, seuls en mesure de présenter ou de soutenir un candidat, s'intensifie lors de chaque élection et révèle une société aux émois républicains apparemment inépuisables.

• La tendance à la bipolarisation. Non sans résistance, on assiste à la multiplication, dans le camp réformiste comme dans celui des conservateurs, de réunions destinées à dégager un candidat d'union. Mais la recherche de l'homme providentiel a cédé la place à celle du candidat le mieux accepté par l'électorat. Au sein des deux courants, le choix du champion est conditionné par les sondages autant que par l'avis des personnalités morales et religieuses ou des élites politiques.

• Les acteurs politiques rivalisent de légalisme et de constitutionnalisme, y compris pour déterminer la date du scrutin. L'institutionnalisation de la République se poursuit à travers ce formalisme.

Il sera plus difficile pour le Conseil des gardiens de la Constitution de faire du zèle et de récuser des candidats désignés à l'issue de longues consultations au sein des grandes factions politiques en lice. De toute façon, tant chez les réformateurs que chez les conservateurs, le choix semble pouvoir se porter sur un candidat susceptible de rassembler, c'est-à-dire éloigné des extrêmes.

Bipolarisation, voire américanisation, du jeu politique ? Quoi qu'il en soit, le principe de la présélection des candidats, qui s'est progressivement affirmé à l'occasion des législatives, va de pair avec la mobilisation des groupes politiques ou professionnels, ou, dans les provinces, des particularismes locaux. La logique qui domine la présidentielle, prise entre le rejet de tout monopole au bénéfice d'une faction et le souci de sauver l'honneur du système, semble plutôt de nature collégiale. Hachemi Rafsandjani, Ali Akbar Velayati et Mir Hossein Moussavi transcenderaient les clivages factionnels au profit de la concorde nationale et républicaine. Encore faut-il que la société iranienne abandonne à nouveau le champ politique à une élite néorévolutionnaire, qui reste réticente à toute ouverture envers d'autres forces et enfermée dans son huis clos.

Fariba Adelkhah

L'Iran veut développer son tourisme

La République islamique aimerait faire passer le nombre de ses visiteurs d'un million en 2005 à 20 millions en 2025


C'est ce qu'a expliqué à l'AFP un vice-président iranien, Hossein Marahi.

Pour ce faire, l'Iran va promouvoir ses richesses touristiques sur CNN et la BBC. La chaîne britannique pourrait ainsi diffuser des spots de 30 à 60 secondes. "L'affaire n'est pas encore finalisée", fait savoir la BBC.

"Nous ne nous exprimons pas sur des accords commerciaux tant qu'ils n'entrent pas en vigueur, et un tel accord n'est pas entré en vigueur", dit-on du côté de CNN. La partie iranienne explique que c'est elle qui fournira les films. Une fois la campagne achevée sur les deux chaînes, elle devrait être suivie d'une diffusion de spots sur les télévisions d'une vingtaine d'autres pays, notamment moyen-orientaux, européens et asiatiques.

Les centaines de milliers d'Iraniens vivant aux Etats-Unis "sont aussi une cible et nous tâcherons de les atteindre à travers les chaînes iraniennes par satellite", explique le responsable iranien cité plus haut. Hossein Marachi précise que les chaînes "contre-révolutionnaires" iraniennes, qui diffusent notamment de Los Angeles, ne feront évidemment pas partie du lot.

Curieusement, alors que CNN est le premier vecteur de pub choisie par les autorités de Téhéran, "les Etats-Unis sont une cible ultérieure". "Nous ne menons pas une politique visant à attirer les touristes américains, nous ne leur délivrons pas facilement des visas", explique Hossein Marachi. Visiblement, l'image du "Grand Satan", datant des débuts de la Révolution islamique (1979), a encore cours. Côté iranien, l'image d'un régime dont le programme nucléaire défie la communauté étrangère et qui impose le port du foulard aux femmes étrangères, peut être un frein au développement du tourisme...

Iran: quel tourisme ?

L'Iran bénéficie d'un patrimoine considérable mais sous-exploité, lié historiquement à sa position de carrefour et aux multiples conquérants qui occupèrent son sol (notamment Alexandre de Macédoine qui fit incendier Persépolis, dixit la légende, pour complaire à sa maîtresse Théïs en 331 avant J.-C.). A titre d'exemples et pour ne citer qu'eux, le pays possède six sites inscrits au Patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO: la forteresse médiévale en argile de Bam, récemment ravagée par un tremblement de terre; le site de Meidan Emam (XVIIe) à Ispahan; les ruines de Pasagardes (première capitale de l'empire achéménide au VIe siècle avant J.-C.); celles de Persépolis (autre capitale achéménide); Takht-e Sulaiman (avec notamment son site zoroastrien datant du XIIIe); Tchoga Zanbil (ruines de la ville sainte du royaume d'Élam, fondée vers 1250 av. J.-C.).


La République islamique entend faire passer le nombre de ses visiteurs étrangers d'un million aujourd'hui à 20 millions dans vingt ans, selon les autorités du pays.

Pour elles, l'Iran souffre plus de son manque d'hôtels et des carences de ses transports
que des années d'isolement après la Révolution de 1979 et d'une image quelque peu rigide à l'étranger. "Nous comptons investir 30 milliards de dollars sur les cinq
prochaines années" pour y remédier, précise-t-on à Téhéran. Les touristes, notamment les femmes, devront continuer à se plier aux règles locales: en clair, les représentantes de la gent féminine étrangère devront continuer à porter un foulard.

"Le tourisme rapporte actuellement 500 millions de dollars par an à l'Iran et l'objectif
est d'arriver à 25 milliards dans vingt ans", affirment les autorités. "Désormais, les
touristes étrangers peuvent obtenir un visa d'une semaine à leur arrivée à l'aéroport de
Téhéran et ce visa peut être renouvelé une fois. D'ici un mois, on pourra obtenir un visa
touristique par internet", précisent-elles.

vendredi, avril 08, 2005

Gov't’s incomes from capital assets up by 11%

LONDON, April 8 (IranMania) - The government’s incomes from the capital assets reached to Rls.151,378 bln during the past Iranian year (ended March 20), the figure shows a growth of about 11% compared to the preceding year.

The government’s income from the capital assets was about Rls.128,970 billon in the preceding year.

Also, the government earned about Rls.138,356 bln of its incomes in this sector from the crude oil sales during the past 12 months, the figure is indicative of about 10.5% increase compared to the year before.

According to the report, in its bid to provide for the required imports, the government has also exported about Rls.10, 828 bln worth of crude oil during the past 12 months. The rest of the government’s incomes from the capital assets during the past 12 months were provided from other sources registering a 4% growth compared to the previous year.

Friday, April 08, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

Iran-China to expand mutual cooperation

LONDON, April 8 (IranMania) - Visiting Iranian Minister of Cooperatives Ali Soufi conferred Thursday with Chinese Vice-President of Cooperatives Federation Jo Shen Thao on expansion mutual cooperation on cooperatives sector.

The Iranian minister underlined that Iran seeks expansion of all-out ties with China, according to IRNA.

Highlighting the significant role of cooperatives in economic boom, he said Iran attaches importance to successful experience of China in cooperatives sector.

The Islamic Republic of Iran seeks further expansion of cooperation with cooperatives sector of China, he pointed out.

Cooperatives sector helps social and economic development, he said adding that Iran can make use of valuable experience of China in the sector.

Iran is ready to conduct joint venture projects with China at various sectors, he underlined.

Thao, for his part, described both Iran and China as two developing countries in Asia and said there exists many commonalties for economic development.

Calling cooperation in the cooperatives sector as very significant, he said China is ready to help Iranian businessmen from all sectors.

China is ready to conduct joint investment projects in production of foodstuffs, tourism and training of work force, he concluded.

Friday, April 08, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

High-profile Belgian trade delegation to visit Iran

LONDON, April 8 (IranMania) - The Minster-President of the Wallonia region of Belgium, Mr Jean-Claude van Cauwenberghe, is leading a big trade delegation to the Islamic Republic to promote bilateral trade and economic ties and cooperation.

Representatives of 19 companies from Wallonia and Brussels are accompanying the Minister-President on his 5-day mission to Iran starting on Saturday April 9, according to IRNA.

Mr. Cauwenberghe's visit is considered to be the first high ranking visit to Iran from Belgium since the trip of ex-Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel to Tehran in March 2004, noted a press release issued by the press office of the Walloon government.

The trade mission is organized by the Walloon Export Agency (AWEX), in cooperation with the Brussels-Export, Agoria Wallonia, Union of Wallonia Enterprise and the Economic Bureau of the province of Namur.

Exports to Iran from Wallonia in 2003 totaled 46.9 mln euro.

In the first nine months of 2004, exports from Wallonia to the Islamic Republic were valued at 51.7 mln euro, representing an increase of 48% in comparison to the first nine months of 2003.

Export items included metals, machinery equipment, industrial chemical and plastic products.

Imports from Iran to Wallonia in 2003 totalled 3.47 mln euro and during the first nine months of 2004 the figures are 3.5 mln euro.

During its stay in Iran, the Belgian delegation will attend an international industry, oil and gas fair and also visit the Industrial and Mineral Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) of Iran and the Mobarrakeh Steel Company in Isfahan.

The Belgian mission will sign an economic and trade agreement between Wallonia and the Belgo-Iran Chamber of Commerce and also with the Iranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Iran with a population of 70 million is opening up its market to the West, noted the press release.

"This openness policy will have interesting economic repercussion for the future," it said.

Moreover, the growing relations between the EU and Iran, especially with Italy, France and Germany, will assure big credits to Tehran, it said.

Iran has the know-how and the necessary funds for its development projects, said the press release.

Wallonia is the predominantly French-speaking region that constitutes one of the three federal regions of Belgium, with its capital at Namur.

It encompasses the southern half of Belgium with a population of 3.35 mln out of a total population of 10 mln of the country.

Friday, April 08, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

mardi, avril 05, 2005

Iran, Oman to sign gas deal in Isfahan

LONDON, March 15 (IranMania) - Iran and Oman inked a gas deal in Isfahan on Tuesday for export of 10 bln cubic meters of gas a year as of 2006.

Under the protocol, signed by Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and his Omani counterpart Mohammad Bin Hamad al Rumhi on the sidelines of the 135th Ordinary Meeting of the OPEC Conference (March 5-6), Iran would export 10 billion cubic meters of gas to the Omani sultanate through a sub-seabed pipeline a year.

Under the lucrative deal the gas would be exported from Iran's Assalouyeh in southwestern Bushehr province as of 2006

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

Eastern Europe, appropriate market for Iran

LONDON, April 4 (IranMania) - Today, every country contemplates making trade relations with other countries as one of its economic policies particularly when the issue of globalization and joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) is considered.


This is also true about Iran whose trade officials have paid due attention to making relations with the eastern European countries. However, the trade relations with these countries have decreased since the collapse of former Yugoslavia and formation of certain countries.

Khosrotaj, deputy minister of commerce for foreign trade affairs elaborated Iran’s trade relations with eastern European countries in an interview with the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).

According to him, in the former Yugoslavia, the bank systems set import against export to the eastern European countries. But after the country’s collapse, the bank system was changed, which resulted in decreasing or halting Iran’s trade relations with these countries.

Additionally, the political changes occurred in eastern Europe created new attitudes making them turn foreign policies to western Europe, he said.

The deputy also said that the changes made in the economic brokerages of these countries as well as their move toward privatization are among other reasons for the decline in Iran’s trade with them.

Khosrotaj put the way of attracting capitals and even the capital transfers in these countries as other reasons, opining that the capital transfers made certain industries non-competitive and established new industries.

He noted that the abovementioned reasons were some factors causing decrease of Iran’s relations with eastern European countries in the past, but recently, these counties have paid attention to the eastern countries, he added, citing as examples the negotiations made with Serbian and Slovenian officials.

“Passing certain European corridors through the eastern European countries such as Serbia and Slovenia have made great opportunities for presence of the Iranian companies”, he said.

In addition, grounds have been paved for participation of the Iranian companies in projects of energy, renovation of refineries and petrochemical industries in these countries coupled with formation of proper markets for the Iranian products of sanitary commodities, gas-fueled appliances, dried fruits, and construction materials, Khosrotaj added in conclusion.


Monday, April 04, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com

Iran’s Top Bank Chooses BANCS Centralised Banking Solution

Bank Keshavarzi was originally created for the country’s Agricultural sector and currently has 1846 branches catering for some 5 million customers and 15 million deposit and loan accounts. This is expected to grow considerably to an estimated 24 million accounts over the next few years.

FNS Regional Vice President, David Parker, said Bank Keshavarsi will initially convert half of its branches to the new BANCS banking system – providing a new banking solution for up to 4 million customers and 12 million accounts in Phase One of the project.




The implementation will be conducted by FNS with the assistance of its Iranian partner, Padisar Informatics INC (Padisar). “FNS will supply the software and will develop the required customization, in addition to supplying the services of software engineers as required from its Philippines based software Centre of Excellence,” Mr Parker said.

Mr Nazari, member of Bank Keshavarzi's Board of Directors responsible for IT, described the upgrade as a sure means of providing better services to their customers. "Customers are our real assets and their true and total satisfaction has always been our aim and heartfelt desire. To be able to cater for their needs, we must undoubtedly utilize modern banking tools and practices, which can only be achieved through an integrated and comprehensive electronic banking solution,” Mr. Nazari said.

"It is this philosophy that lies behind Bank Keshavarzi's decision to select an integrated and total solution software solution, which we hope will realize our goals - with the participation of FNS and its local partner Padisar - so that all our esteemed compatriots can share in its benefits", he said.

Chairman of Padisar, Mr Rahmani, said that this project, initiated for the first time in the country, is undoubtedly indebted to the strong desires of the management of Bank Keshavarzi to offer new services of the highest standards to customers. He added that this project will have a profound effect on the Iranian banks’ approach to customers and the type of services they will offer.

Mr Rahmani also acknowledged BANCS’ unique capabilities, FNS’s professionalism and Padisar’s unique line of business, and knowledgeable staff who will be joining FNS in the implementation. This will result in customization and interfacing of a line of products, in particular some specific types of Islamic banking.

FNS Managing Director, Tony Ward, said Bank Keshavarsi’s decision to implement the award winning BANCS® banking solution would deliver the benefits of centralised banking encompassing full retail and Internet banking capabilities together with mobile and telephone banking and automation of those branches integrated to the core solution.

The bank is also implementing the BANCS Trade Finance, Treasury and Payments solutions, plus FNS’s proven Islamic banking solution.

“By implementing the BANCS solution, Bank Keshavarsi will be able to offer sophisticated deposit and loan products, in addition to providing foreign exchange and global trade finance facilities.”

The decision to implement the world class BANCS solution comes at a time when Bank Keshavarsi has achieved international recognition as Iran’s top bank for two consecutive years (2003 and 2004) and one of the top 10 banks in the Middle East in an annual survey by the respected Financial Times publication, The Banker.

Bank Keshavarsi was ranked just outside the top 20% of the world’s Top 1000 banks based on a combination of criteria including its level of Tier One capital, volume of assets, ratio of capital to assets, actual profit growth, ratio of profit to capital, output of assets and cost-revenue ratio.

Mr Ward said the selection of FNS as the successful tenderer recognises the company’s expertise in providing retail and wholesale banking solutions throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific where it has provided Islamic Banking solutions to a number of prominent financial institutions.

About FNS
Financial Network Services Pty Ltd (FNS) is a global leader in providing integrated, flexible and modular solutions for the financial services industry. The company has more than 100 corporate clients in over 35 countries, including some of the world’s leading financial services organisations of every operational size and complexity.

Through its flagship BANCS® banking solutions, FNS has won a reputation for increasing productivity, profits and flexibility while responding rapidly to market demands for new financial products.

BANCS is a sustainable Commercial Banking System that fully integrates Retail, e-Commerce, Commercial banking, Treasury, Trade, MIS and delivery channels in one homogeneous system.

The solution offers core banking functions in a multi-currency, multi-lingual environment which is totally independent of platforms, operating environments and RDBMS. Implementations include Windows, UNIX, and MVS utilising DB2, UDB, Oracle and SQL/Server.

FNS is one of a limited number of companies worldwide to hold a Business Application Partnership agreement with IBM and is a Microsoft Certified partner. It is also a key alliance partner with Hewlett Packard, Intel, Oracle and Sun Microsystems in various countries around the world.

FNS is a private company with 10 international offices and some 220 employees around the world. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, the company is majority owned by its founders and staff, with a minority interest currently held by Australia’s largest investment bank, Macquarie Bank, through its subsidiary, Macquarie Direct Investments Limited.

FNS has offices in Sydney, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, Santiago, Seoul and Taipei and also operates through its strategic business partners and leading locally based systems integrators in many other countries. For more information visit: www.fns.com.au.

About Bank Keshavarzi
Bank Keshavarzi has more than 70 years of experience in agricultural financing, and provides its wide-ranging clients with a full range of modern banking services. Though it is chiefly a local bank, it has developed links in the international banking arena with some of the major banks across the world.

Bank Keshavarzi’s main advantage lies in it’s expertise in agri-financing which has developed into a key sector of Iran’s economy. Bank Keshavarzi aims to offer world-class services and products utilizing the state-of-the-art banking technology.

Bank Keshavarzi enjoys tremendous support and loyalty from its customers, in addition to the efforts of bank employees in various parts of the country and the support of officials including many regional and international agricultural and credit associations such as APRACA, CICA and NENARACA, of which it is a member.

About Padisar
Padisar Informatics is FNS’s partner in Iran. Padisar provides sales support, implementation support, and a 24 x 7 on call helpdesk.

Padisar Informatics was incorporated in 1996 with the aim of bringing the latest innovations in the field of Information Technology, especially for the banking and financial industry, to the market place. Since then, it has implemented various projects within the aforementioned industries and today is the only private entity which offers complete solutions to the banking industry and provides 24x7 support and services to its customers through a nationwide network of offices and representatives.

Over 150 well versed engineers are working within a dynamic and diversified organization comprising of e-banking, e-payment, network engineering, business development and maintenance and services departments to transfer the latest technologies to the banks and other financial institutions in collaboration with a number of international Business Partners, each of which with a well-known background for providing high quality and comprehensive business solutions to the banking industry.

Iran, Algeria sign cooperation agreement

Tehran Times

Algiers (IRNA) -- Visiting Iranian Defense Minister Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani and Algerian Minister of Interior and Local Authorities Yazid Zerhoni signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral cooperation on Monday.

The MOU was signed at the end of three-day official visit of the Iranian minister to Algiers with the two sides underlining the need to continue exchange of delegations between Iran and Algeria.

Also Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on Sunday in a meeting with Shamkhani praised the Iran-Algeria relations, calling for exploitation of both sides' potentials to implement the signed agreements.

Ouyahia referred to the Iran-Algeria Joint Economic Commission, saying that the commission should pave the way for consolidation of cooperation in line with both sides' interests.

Shamkhani, for his part, invited the Algerian state-run and private organizations to invest in Iran's economic projects.

He called on the two countries' officials to get familiar with military and technical capabilities of each other.

He pointed to Iran's high potentials in military and non-military fields, saying the proper ground is paved for materialization of both sides' political determination to bolster cooperation in joint defense activities.

Shamkhani said that the upcoming visit of Ouyahia to Iran will pave the way for consolidation of relations.

The Algerian prime minister is due to pay a visit to Iran at the invitation of Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Aref.

During his stay in Algiers, Shamkhani also held talks with Algerian Parliamentary Speaker Abdel Kader Bin Salih on Sunday night.

During the meeting, the Algeria's speaker said that the Algerian legislative houses supported the development of Tehran-Algiers relations.

He expressed the firm determination of the Algerian parliament to pave the way for participation of Iran's private and government-run companies in Algeria's economic plans.

Shamkhani also said that a new development in international arena was inevitable, adding that defense cooperation in peace time in the frameworks of regional and extra-regional cooperation will contribute to achieving a collective pattern and to restoration of a permanent peace.

He said that enemies of the Islamic world had adopted double standard views towards the issue of terrorism.

Shamkhani, heading a high ranking delegation, arrived in Algeria on Saturday at the invitation of the country's President and Defense Minister, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, for a three-day official visit.

Situation économique et financière (février 2005)

Sur le plan conjoncturel, la situation économique et financière de l’Iran peut être considérée comme globalement satisfaisante, en raison principalement des cours élevés du pétrole qui contribue, bon an mal an, à hauteur de 80% des recettes d’exportation et de la moitié des revenus de l’état.

Selon le FMI, la croissance a été de 6,7% au cours de l’exercice fiscal 2003-2004 et, au vu des données disponibles, devrait atteindre 5,7% en 2004-2005. Du fait d’une politique monétaire et fiscale expansionniste, l’inflation demeure toujours à un niveau élevé (15,8%) et ne paraît pas devoir ralentir significativement dans l’immédiat.

Le déficit public est passé de 2,4% du PIB en 2002-2003 à un excédent équivalent à 0,7% du PIB en 2003-2004. Toutefois, ce quasi équilibre n’a pu être atteint que grâce à une ponction sur les surplus des revenus pétroliers qui auraient du normalement alimenter un fonds d’épargne de l’état (Oil Stabilization Fund). Calculé hors charge nette des prêts mis en place dans le cadre de l’OSF, l’excédent consolidé des comptes publics aurait sensiblement augmenté sur l’année fiscale 2004-2005 pour atteindre 4% du PIB, soit l’excédent parmi les plus substantiels enregistrés par l’Iran depuis la chute du régime impérial.

En dépit d’une forte augmentation des exportations pétrolières et non pétrolières, l’excédent de la balance des comptes courants n’a cessé de se détériorer du fait d’une hausse encore plus importante des importations (+30% en 2003-2004). Le solde courant est ainsi passé de 6 Mds USD (7,2% du PIB) en 2001-2002 à 3,6 Mds (3,1% du PIB) en 2002-2003 et 2,1 Mds (1,5% du PIB) en 2003-2004. En revanche, la balance des capitaux est demeurée excédentaire à 4 Mds USD en 2003-2004 grâce aux flux d’IDE et aux investissements réalisés dans le cadre des buy back pétroliers (1,7 Md USD en 2003-2004). Les réserves en devises (OSF compris) sont passées de 21,4 Mds USD en 2002-2003 à 24,4 Mds en 2003-2004 soit moins de 7 mois d’importation. Les données disponibles sur 2004-2005 suggèrent, en revanche, un renforcement notable de la position extérieure de l’Iran dans la mesure où le prix moyen du baril a été sensiblement supérieur aux hypothèses retenues à la fois par les autorités de Téhéran (23 USD) et le FMI (30 USD). Cette performance, meilleure que prévue, mérite d’être soulignée dans un contexte où le dynamisme de la conjoncture a d’autant accru les importations (32Mds USD). Selon les dernières données recueillies, l’excédent courant aurait sur 2004-2005 quadruplé en valeur absolue (près de 8,5 Mds USD). Quant au solde la balance globale, il aurait plus que quadruplé pour atteindre, pour la première fois, près de 16 Mds USD. Dans ce contexte les réserves en devises ont toute chance d’atteindre 40 Mds USD soit 11 mois d’importations de biens et services.

La dette extérieure publique ou garantie par l’état demeure raisonnable (11,9 Mds USD sur mars 2003/2004 et 12,6 Mds à fin septembre 2004 soit 8 % du PIB) mais est constituée pour près de la moitié par de la dette à court terme (47%). Cette situation n’est toutefois pas trop inquiétante car le poids relatif de la dette extérieure a été réduit selon les dernières estimations à 7,5% du PIB sur 2004-2005 et la part des exportations et services absorbées par le service de la dette à plus d’un an reste stable à 4,6%.