15th Iran-Russia joint economic committee meeting Archives - Iran News Daily

Iran to use funds held in Iraq to buy COVID-19 vaccine

mahla — Sun, 02 May 2021 10:58:52 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran to use funds held in Iraq to buy Russian COVID-19 vaccine, says minister . Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian says Iran will use its funds blocked in neighboring Iraq to purchase vaccines from Russia against the COVID-19 disease.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with visiting Iraqi Electricity Minister Majid Mahdi Hantoush in Tehran on Sunday, Ardakanian said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered that the money needed for buying COVID-19 vaccines be provided from funds held in different parts of the world.

“According to an agreement between Iran and Russia, part of Iraq’s debt to Iran will be spent on purchasing Russian vaccines,” the minister said.

Ardakanian said necessary arrangements with Baghdad and Moscow have been made and “we expect that the first payments will be made in the coming days.”

Iran has billions of dollars in a Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) account which processes Iraq’s payments for imports of natural gas and electricity from Iran.

However, the funds have been frozen because of the US sanctions on Iran which restrict the use of the dollar for transactions involving Tehran.

The inhumane US sanctions have seriously hampered the Islamic Republic’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 2,516,157 Iranians and killed 72,090 others.

Iranian Red Crescent imports largest vaccine cargo

On Sunday, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) announced that it has imported the largest consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from China.

“This consignment of one million doses of the coronavirus vaccine arrived today at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport,” said IRCS Secretary-General Mohammad Hassan Ghosian Moghaddam.

Other than importing reliable foreign vaccines, Iran has developed its own vaccines which are currently in the last phases of human trials.

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Iran Agricultural Sector Sees Over 28% Surge in Recent Years

reporter 1222 — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 06:32:15 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has seen a major growth in its agricultural sector as output has increased by more than 28 percent in six years, ending March 19, 2020.

Iran’s Agriculture Minister Kazem Khavazi said that the total output of agricultural products in the sector had topped 125 million tons at the end of the last Iranian year, Press TV reported.

Khavazi said output would further grow by five million tons by March 2021 and by another two million tons when the current administrative government leaves office in August next year.

The minister, speaking to IRNA, said production of major staples like wheat and rice had significantly increased over the past years, adding that annual wheat output stood at 13.7 million tons in March this year, up 47 percent from late March 2014.

He said Iran’s rice production will reach 2.7 million tons by the end of the current Iranian year, giving Iran a considerable degree of self-sufficiency on the staple.

Khavazi said that the use of irrigation in agriculture has increased to cover nearly 45 percent of farmland across Iran, adding that the number of tractors and combine harvesters in the country has also risen by 112,000 and 10,000, respectively, compared to March 2014.

Better weather conditions and growing government support had led to higher yields in Iran’s strong agriculture sector. That comes as growing exports of agro-foods to neighboring countries have given incentives to Iranian farmers to expand cultivation for various crops.

Experts say booming agricultural exports have helped Iran reduce its reliance on crude oil sales as the government seeks to diversify the economy away from oil to make it more resilient against foreign sanctions.

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Iran to Offer Oil in Domestic Stock Market

reporter 1222 — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 10:08:37 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled plans for the domestic sale of crude oil in the stock market.

In remarks at an economic meeting on Tuesday, Rouhani said the supreme council of economic coordination among the heads of the three branches of power has approved a plan on the domestic sale of oil at the energy stock market.

Describing the new decision as part of plans to carry out a people-based economy, regulate the stock exchange market, and counter the oil sanctions imposed by the enemies, the president hoped that his administration would put the plan into practice immediately after final ratification.

Last week, the president said a new initiative is going to give fresh impetus to the country’s economy and resolve a series of problems.

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Drug Decriminalization Ruining Fight on Narcotics: Iran Envoy

reporter 1222 — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 07:01:36 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna cautioned that the policy of certain countries for decriminalization and legalizing drug use is undermining international anti-narcotics efforts.

“Any approach with the purpose of decriminalization and legalizing of the drug would undermine international efforts to achieve a drug abuse-free world,” Kazem Gharibabadi said in an address to a special commemorative event of the 63rd session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UNODC).

The event, devoted to the UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, was held virtually on Friday. On this occasion, the World Drug Report 2020 was launched, followed by a discussion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world drug situation, from a regional perspective, co-sponsored by the EU and UNODC.

In his address, Gharibabadi deplored the far-reaching negative impacts of drug abuse on development and stability across the world, calling for closer international cooperation, tangible support, and increased national and regional efforts to overcome the challenge posed by drugs.

“A balanced stance on the basis of the international conventions on drugs must be the guideline and criterion for all national, regional, and international arrangements,” the Iranian ambassador added.

He further highlighted the Islamic Republic of Iran’s unflagging battle with drugs despite the illegitimate unilateral sanctions imposed by the US, saying Iran seized more than 950 tons of drugs last year alone.

Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.

Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past decades.

The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab, and Central Asian countries.

The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.

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Iran school renovation projects receives $2.3b

reporter 1222 — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 07:58:00 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A budget of 100 trillion rials (nearly $2.3 billion) will be allocated to Iran school renovation projects across the country while constructing new educational places, Education Minister Mohsen Haji Mirzaei has stated.

The budget is partially paid by the Ministry of Education and the benefactors by the end of this year (March 2020), Fars quoted Haji Mirzaei as saying on Tuesday.

Referring to the students’ population of 15 million in the country, he noted: “There are 150,000 schools which is not sufficient, so we try to increase the number of educational facilities.”

In December 2018, Mehrollah Rakhshanimehr, director of the organization for renovation, development, and equipment of schools said that 30 percent of the schools nationwide are old, of which some 12 percent must be completely rebuilt and 18 percent must be retrofitted, which requires a total budget of $3 billion.

There are 530,000 classrooms nationwide, 160,000 of which are dilapidated, not meeting safety standards, he added.

Last year it was said that in the Iranian calendar year 1382 (March 2003-March 2004), the proportion of standard schools to old ones was the opposite, 30 percent of schools met required standards and the rest were old, the officials highlighted, adding, “in the fifth five-year development plan some $4 billion was allocated from the forex reserve fund for Iran school renovation projects.”

After that a total budget of $3 billion was needed to rebuild and renovate the remaining 30 percent of the schools, he concluded.

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15th Iran-Russia Joint Economic Committee meeting kicks off today

reporter 1222 — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 06:30:27 +0000

As reported, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak are going to co-chair the Iran-Russia Joint Economic Committee meeting.

The Iran-North Caucasus trade conference will also be attended by the Minister of North Caucasus Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Chebotarev and Reza Ardakanian.

The third Iran-Russia provincial cooperation working group will also be held, in which Ardakanian, Chebotarev, the deputy prime minister of the Russian Republic of Dagestan and eight regional ministers are going to attend.

During the three-day events, nine working groups and three specialized committees are scheduled to be held to explore cooperation in a variety of areas including industry, energy, transport, ICT, etc.

Establishing a freight line between Zhukovsky International Airport in Moscow and Isfahan International Airport, joint production of freight wagons, joint production of small-scale turbines, joint production of heavy vehicles, and exports of meat from North Caucasus region to Iran are some of the projects which are going to be discussed during the Joint Economic Committee meeting.

It is also agreed for the two countries’ businessmen and entrepreneurs to hold B2B talks on the sidelines of the upcoming event in order to explore avenues of mutual cooperation.

As part of the Russian Federation, the Northern Caucasus region is included in the North Caucasian and Southern Federal Districts and consists of Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the constituent republics.

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