In the meeting, Shafei emphasized the experience of Czech Republic in the field of rail transportation and management of water resources, and called for cooperation between the two countries in those areas.

He said that Czech Republic has one of the most stable economies in the East Europe that it has experienced considerable economic growth and it has advanced laws in the field of investment comparing to other countries in East Europe.

He also said that the Czechs have passed successfully the process of privatization and it boosts attractions for cooperation with this country. He also pointed to some fields for joint cooperation like defining a joint project for producing electric engines and fixing replacing fuel in the vehicles, adding that both countries can also cooperate in the power plant, sugar industry, cement, crystals and sugarcane that the two sides had good experience in the past.

Shafei also noted that the diversity in the fields for bilateral cooperation is high, and Tehran and Prague can cooperate even in the fields of petrochemicals, auto industry, machineries, mining, home appliances and energy.

He then pointed to Iran problem of water crisis and said the country should take advantage of the experience of the countries which have good experiences in the field of managing the water resources. He also referred to Iran’s geographical location which can connect south to north, east and west, adding that the country seeks developing its rail transportation and its renovation, and the door is open for investment and joint cooperation of the Czechs with Iran in this field.

He then expressed hope the joint Iran-Czech committee would be set up soon which will facilitate the trade between the two states.

Then Rychtar, for his part, said a Czech delegation is to visit Tehran in January and the delegation will include representatives from the companies which are active in mining, food, health and heavy machineries as they have announced readiness for cooperation with Iran.

He then added that he tries to attend different exhibitions in Iran to get acquainted with the existing capacities of Iran and restoring ties between Iranian and Czech companies. He expressed his satisfaction over the providing condition for holding the joint economic commission of Iran and Czech Republic in the near futures, adding that the number of Czech companies interested in cooperating with Iranians is considerable. He admitted that the problem in transfer of money is the main hurdle for trade between the two states and Czech embassy in Tehran is trying to find ways for revival of the ties between the two countries.

Rychter then pointed to his country’s experience in privatization and announced readiness for sharing its experience and announced readiness for boosting Iran’s pistachio market in the world through standard packing.

The post Czech Trade Delegation to Visit Tehran in January appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The Czech government said on Saturday it will expel the Russian diplomats identified by local intelligence as secret agents of the Russian SVR and GRU services that were suspected of involvement in two arms depot explosions in the Czech Republic seven years ago.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said in a joint press conference that the agents working for the Russian intelligence services were suspectedly involved in explosions at an ammunition warehouse in 2014 which left two people dead.

“Based on clear evidence obtained during the investigation conducted by our security services, I can say there is well-grounded suspicion about the involvement of officers of the Russian intelligence service GRU, unit 29155 in the explosion of ammunitions depot in the Vrbetice area in 2014,” Babis noted.

Several explosions shook the Vrbetice ammunition depot, 330km southeast of Prague, on October 16, 2014. They killed two employees of a private company that was renting the depot from a state military organization.

Hamacek said the expelled Russian embassy staff were ordered to leave the country within 48 hours.

“As foreign minister of the Czech Republic, I made the decision to expel all personnel at the Russian embassy in Prague identified by our secret services as officers of Russia’s secret services, SVR and GRU. Within 48 hours, 18 staff of the Russian embassy must leave the Czech Republic,” Hamacek, who is the interior minister and also an interim foreign minister after his predecessor was sacked earlier this week, said.

Hamacek said he had summoned Russian ambassador Alexander Zmeyevsky on Saturday evening to tell him about the decision, adding that the findings about the 2014 incident would “fundamentally damage Czech-Russian relations.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said her country would answer the Czech move.

“Prague is well aware of what will follow such tricks,” Zakharova was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.

In related news on Thursday, the Czech Republic’s neighbor Poland said it had also expelled three Russian diplomats for “carrying out activities to the detriment” of Poland.

Warsaw also expressed solidarity with the US amid a diplomatic standoff between Moscow and Washington which began after US President Joe Biden ordered 10 Russian diplomats out of the country over what Washington alleged were “malign” actions.

The United States on Thursday imposed a broad array of sanctions on Russia for its alleged interference in the 2020 US election, cyber-hacking and “bullying” Ukraine, among other things.

The measures blacklisted Russian companies, expelled Russian diplomats and placed limits on the Russian sovereign debt market.

The Biden administration warned that more penalties could come, although Washington did not want to escalate matters between the two countries.

Russia said the US move had already dangerously escalated matters between the two countries. Moscow also said it would expel 10 US diplomats.

The post Czechs expel 18 Russian embassy staff, accusing ‘intel officers’ of 2014 depot blast appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The film, which has been produced by the private sector in Iran, will have its world premiere in Europe and North America in the near future.

Starring Manuchehr Azar, Sahar Abdollahi and Mohammadreza Rahbari, the film is about Dr. Arash Peyro who has to leave Tehran to live in a remote border village where he finds out pieces in the puzzle of his past life.

“I didn’t want to make anymore films showing an Iranian family with a lot of children, all of whom must take turns wearing a single pair of shoes,” Fakhr-Musavi once said in an interview with the Persian daily Saba.

“I am bored with such images that movies are portraying about my country,” he added.

“Unfortunately, Europeans still deem us as nomads while they once knew us by Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Taste of Cherry’,” he lamented.

“I have frequently told Iranian officials that if we don’t enter the international current, our cinema will fade away,” noted Fakhr-Musavi, who has previously made “Autumn Memories” along with film studios in Czech and Ukraine.

The film is an anti-war love story about a young girl who loses her home and family in terrorist attacks but tries to find peace and love among the people of another war-torn area.

It won the Best Narrative Feature Film Award at the October edition of the Barcelona Planet Film Festival, a monthly international event in Spain.

The post Studios from Czech, Italy, Ukraine join Iranian director to make “Blue Land” appeared first on Iran News Daily.

About 30 movies will compete in the various sections of the festival, the organizers have announced.

“The Graveless” by Mostafa Sayyari, “Reza” by Alireza Motamedi, “Pig” by Mani Haqiqi, “Bomb, a Love Story” by Peyman Maadi, “3 Faces” by Jafar Panahi and six other films will compete in the feature film section.

“Women with Gunpowder Earrings” by Reza Farahmand, “Ali Aqa” by Kamran Heidari, “Finding Farideh” co-directed by Azadeh Musavi and Kurosh Atai and three more movies will go on screen in the documentary section.

“Like A Good Kid” by Arian Vazirdaftari, “Lunch Time” by Alireza Qasemi and “A Moon in Wane” by Ali Drakhshandeh are in the short films lineup.

The festival will run in the Czech cities of Prague and Brno and the Slovakian capital of Bratislava from January 15 to 26.

The post Czech, Slovakian festival of Iranian films unveils lineup appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According to Czech Radio, the vote was on the first reading as the start of the legislative process.

The precise proposal stems from the problems of South Bohemia company ZVVZ Milevsko which had won a contract to deliver air conditioning equipment.

The Czech government took a neutral position on the issue when it came up in Cabinet in March in spite of warnings that agreement to lift the ban might affect relations with key allies such as the U.S.

The post Czech parliament overturns ban on Bushehr nuclear plant appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post ÍRÁN:CI to bring Iranian films to Czech audience appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According to Shada news agency, the document was signed by Czech Deputy Finance Minister Ondrej Landa and Deputy Finance Minister of Iran Mohammad Khazaie in Tehran on Monday.

Iranian Finance Minister Masoud Karbasian also attended the signing ceremony.

After signing of the agreement, Karbasian noted construction of power plants, pharmaceuticals as well as automotive and auto parts as potent areas for cooperation between the two countries.

The official also announced that the two countries’ next Joint Economic Committee meeting is slated for early 2018 in Tehran.

Landa, for his part, said Iran has very good infrastructure and potential for developing bilateral cooperation and joint investment projects.

The post Iran, Czech Republic agree to bolster mutual investment appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The announcement was made by Czech Ambassador to Tehran Svatopluk Cumba who said an agreement to the same effect would be signed between the two countries in the near future.

Cumba added that there had been an increase of 60 percent in exports from the Czech Republic to Iran over the past year, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.

He emphasized that a significant number of his country’s businesses were eager to enter the Iranian market to use its potentials.

The value of Iran’s trade activities with the Czech Republic reached a total of $27.1 million over first half of 2017, added quoting official figures. This, it said, was higher than the corresponding period last year.

The announcement of a new credit line for Iran investments follows several other recent moves in the same direction.

In late September, the Islamic Republic saw a historic opening in banking relations with Europe in September after banks from Austria, Denmark and France signed deals to establish credit lines for investments in the country.

The biggest such credit line was created by Austria’s Oberbank which signed deals with 14 Iranian private companies to allocate €1 billion for investments by Austrian companies in the country.

Another was created by Denmark’s Danske Bank with a total lending value of €500 million.

To the same effect, France’s state investment bank Bpifrance (BPI) announced plans to support French enterprises in their investments in Iran.

The post Czech Republic to fund Iran investments appeared first on Iran News Daily.