A new round of cooperation has kicked off between Iran and Germany’s Lurgi GmbH in the Iranian petrochemical industries.

Director of Production Control in Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Alimohammad Bosaghzadeh expounded on new collaborations with the German company of Lurgi GmbH saying “aiming to complete its value chain, Iran’s NPC has developed careful plans including launch of cooperation with Gernaby’s Lurgi on construction of a polypropylene production unit in partnership with Iran’s Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (PRTC).”

The official recalled that the joint venture with the German firm marks Iran’s first ever cooperation with a foreign firm over production of the petrochemical product.

“Iran’s PRTC has so far constructed a pilot polypropylene construction unit,” stressed Bosaghzadeh adding that NPC seeks to reach a total production volume of 120 thousand tons per year.

He went on to underline that current PRTC projects aim to increase the amount of polypropylene to 500 thousand tons hence the accord with foreign companies like Lurgi GmbH.

Previously, Director of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Marzieh Shah-Daei had pointed to opening and official operation of the first semi-industrial polypropylene manufacturing unit in the country’s petrochemical industry asserting “the unit’s output is expected to reach 500 thousand tons in collaboration with Lurgi GmbH of Germany.

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Germany has reportedly agreed to provide Iran with a €1.2 billion ($1.27 billion) credit line to help finance a key rail project in what is seen as the biggest foreign financing the country has been able to secure after the removal of sanctions.

Bloomberg has quoted an unnamed official from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as saying that the financing will be provided to the Islamic Republic through Germany’s state-run lender KfW IPEX. The official added that it would be used for the development of the railway from Tehran to Mashhad.

The funding has been agreed in principle and is close to being finalized, Bloomberg quoted Michael Tockuss, chairman of the Germany-Iran Chamber of Commerce, as saying. It would be the biggest credit line Iran has secured from foreign sources since the easing of sanctions in January, he added.

The announcement comes only a few days after the tragic crash of two trains on Tehran-Mashhad railway left dozens dead and many wounded. The crash was blamed on human error but nonetheless revived a debate at home that the country’s ageing rail fleet needs to be renovated.

Germany’s Siemens has already announced serious plans to help develop Iran’s railway system. Local media reported earlier this year that the company had signed several agreements with Iran to develop its railway network, including the electrification of the Tehran to Mashhad line. Also, officials in Tehran said earlier this month that talks were underway with Siemens to acquire high-speed trains from the company through 30-year leasing deals.

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An official has reported on an agreement with Germany‘s Hermes Insurance Company to provide insurance coverage for investment projects in Iranian petrochemical industries.

Speaking at a press conference, Director for Investment of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Hossein Alimorad described the most major plans for attraction of investment to the country’s petrochemical industry saying “a contract has been recently inked with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to reopen a 320-million-euro Line of Credit (LOC).”

The official also referred to new negotiations with yet another Japanese firm to reopen an LOC worth 640 million euros asserting “talks with the Japanese side are in final stages of drafting the contract which is estimated to be sealed within weeks.”

He also pointed to the visit of an Iranian delegation to Berlin at the invitation of Iran’s Embassy in Germany; “the trip aims to launch a fresh round of negotiations with banks, insurance firms as well as companies willing to make direct investment in the Iranian petchem industry.”

“Final agreement has been reached with Germany’s Hermes Insurance firm in the course of recent talks,” stressed Alimorad noting that the German side has agreed to take out insurance against new investments in petrochemical industries of Iran.

The NPC official also touched upon the held talks with German banks on attracting investment to the industry stating “a short-term scenario has been finalized based on which investment attraction will be performed under the guarantee of NPC as the government’s representative.”

In response to a question on the amount of investment by German companies, NPC’s director for investment said in the first step, agreement has been reached on reopening three billion euros of LOC while three to six more billion euros are expected to be opened in the second phase.

Negotiations have also been conducted with German firms on making 12 billion euros of new investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry

“Negotiations have also been conducted with German firms on making 12 billion euros of new investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry in addition to the three-billion-euro Line of Credit,” reiterated Alimorad adding “two senior officials of a giant German petchem company will soon travel to Tehran in order to finalize earlier talks as well as to evaluate NPC’s proposed economic projects.”

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Report: Facilitating investment in Iran petrochemical industry

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Figures released by the Customs Administration of Iran show that the country’s exports from Germany have increased by 25 percent.

Iran’s official figures show that the country’s imports from Germany have increased by a quarter in what could be a fresh indication of growing opening in Iran’s post-sanctions business environment.

Iran imported $1.27 billion worth of goods from Germany over a period of seven months

Figures released by the Customs Administration of Iran showed that the country imported $1.27 billion worth of goods from Germany over a period of seven months starting 21 March 2016 – the start of the current Iranian calendar year of 1395.

This shows an increase of around 25 percent compared to the same period last year. It also shows that Germany is now the fifth main exporter to Iran and the leading European country with a significant level of trade activities with the Islamic Republic.

The top four exporters to Iran – as figures relating to the same seven-month period showed – are China ($5.71 billion), the UAE ($4.98 billion), South Korea ($1.88 billion) and Turkey ($1.55 billion), figures released by the Customs Administration of Iran showed.

The top importers of Iranian non-oil commodities and services over the same period have been China ($4.43 billion), the UAE ($3.88 billion), Iraq ($3.50 billion), Turkey ($2.50 billion) and South Korea ($1.95 billion).

A majority of Iran’s exported items are downstream products such as condensate, liquefied petroleum gas, gas oil, propane and others.

Key items imported during the period have been cattle feedstock, soy, rice, auto spare parts and vehicles.

Figures released by Iran’s Customs Administration last month showed that the country’s non-oil exports to Europe for a period of five months starting 21 March 2016 had increased by 21 percent. Top importers were accordingly identified as Italy, Spain and Germany.

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A total of ten documents and agreements for joint cooperation were signed between Iran and Germany on Monday in Tehran.

The deals were sealed during the fifth Iran-Germany Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation on October 03 in the presence of German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs Ali Tayebnia.

The newly-signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) cover a wide range of areas for cooperation including project financing, mutual investment, joint ventures, banking and insurance cooperation, infrastructure in oil, gas and petrochemical sectors, renewable energy, railway, environment, roads and urban development, automotive, airlines and technology transfer.

Iran’s Tayebnia, in his remarks during the MoU signing ceremony, said the Islamic Republic of Iran and its private sector have always pursued the policy of strengthening economic ties with other countries and traditional partners, Germany in particular; “in the year 2008, the volume of trade turnover between Iran and Germany reached six billion dollars to turn Germans into Iran’s top trade partners among European Union member states.”

“The figure indicates the depth of economic relations between the two sides which were never interrupted even in the period of unfair sanctions against Iran thanks to the bond and friendship between the two nations,” he continued.

The Iranian economy minister further asserted “given that resumption of relations between Iran and Germany has been made possible in the wake of Iran’s successful negotiations with the 5+1, no effort should be spared in taking practical steps towards stronger collaboration in areas of common interest like investment, technology transfer, car manufacturing, oil, gas, renewable energies, aviation as well as financial and banking ties.” /MNA

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Iran says Germany is preparing to implement an action plan to invest €3 billion in different industries of the Islamic Republic.

Ali Majedi, Iran’s ambassador to Germany, said the investments will be made through a consortium comprising six German banks.

Majedi emphasized that the related agreements for this will be signed during the visit to Tehran by the German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

He added that Iran and Germany have over the past months devised fast track economic cooperation plans and that those plans include the development of power plants and generation of electricity.

A recent agreement that Germany’s Siemens signed with Iran’s MAPNA Group to transfer the technology of gas-powered turbines is an example of such plans, the Iranian envoy said.

Others, he added, concern producing electric and diesel locomotives as well as train cars and providing the signaling systems for Tehran-Isfahan – and probably Tehran-Mashhad – tracks.

Majedi further emphasized that Germany’s Volkswagen plans to transfer the technology to Iran to produce two of its models – what he said will be part of the same fast track plans devised by the two countries.

Gabriel is expected to arrive in Tehran on Sunday evening heading a major business delegation.

He has already announced that a German-Iranian business commission will meet for the first time in 15 years during his stay in the country, emphasizing that concrete business deals will also be announced.

The German minister was one of the first high-ranking foreign officials to visit Iran immediately after a series of economic sanctions against the country were lifted in January.

He canceled a scheduled trip to Iran to attend a meeting of Iran-Germany Economic Commission for the first time in 15 years early May, citing poor health. /Press TV

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Germany and Iran have signed a range of business deals in what is expected to take economic relations between the two countries to a new level.

The German Economy Ministry announced in a statement that several Mittelstand firms, the small-to-medium-sized companies that form the backbone of the economy, had signed the deals with their Iranian partners during a landmark visit to Tehran by Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

On the same front, Reuters reported that Mitsubishi Germany signed a contract to modernize a gas-fired plant, while plant constructor Keller HCW sealed an agreement to build a brickyard in Iran. Others that signed deals in Tehran included SMS group, a builder of steel making plants and INTRA industrial solutions, Reuters quoted the German Economy Ministry as announcing in its statement.

The central banks of Iran and Germany also agreed on technical co-operation, Reuters added. There was no detail on the size of the agreed deals.

Gabriel – who is heading a 160-strong business delegation to Tehran – had earlier emphasized that Germany wants to help Iran push ahead with reforms, and promised to remind the United States of its commitment to reduce sanctions against Iran.

This is Gabriel’s second visit to Iran since the country reached a deal in July last year to restrict certain aspects of its nuclear energy activities in return for the removal of some economic sanctions that had been imposed on it for several years.

Industrial giant Siemens AG and automaker Daimler AG are expected to be the first German firms to benefit from opportunities in Iran after the removal of the sanctions, Reuters said. Nevertheless, they are proceeding carefully and only after legal reviews.

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Purchasing €2.9 billion of goods from Iran, Italy was the biggest importer of Iranian products in 2018, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday, citing the data released by European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat.

The country’s imports from Iran in 2018 was 31 percent of the total of European countries’ imports from Iran. However, the figure registered an annual decrease of 13 percent in 2018 from its previous €3.36 billion in 2017.

According to the data published by Eurostat, Germany with exports of €2.7 billion to Iran, i.e. 30 percent of the total exports of EU to Iran, was the main European exporter to Iran last year, the same report added.

Germany’s exports to Iran showed eight percent decrease in 2018 in comparison with the preceding year when the figure stood at €2.95 billion.

In 2018, after Italy, Spain (€2.02 billion) and France (€1.53 billion) were respectively the major importers from Iran while Italy (€1.68 billion) and France (€895 million) were the main exporters after Germany to Iran.

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The 36th Fadjr International Theater Festival (FITF) ended in a ceremony after announcing the winners in different categories.

In the international competition section Best Play Award was jointly presented to ‘The History Boys’ by Ashkan Khalilnejad, and ‘Melancholy of the Dragons’ by Philippe Quesne of France, honaronline.ir wrote.

Khalilnejad also received the Best Directing Award and Best Stage Design Award for ‘The History Boys’.

Mehdi Ziachamani won the Best Playwriting Award for ‘The Omissions’.

Special Jury Award for Best Dramatic Composition and Best Acting Award (male) went to Masoud Delkhah for ‘Mephisto’ and Morteza Esmaeil-Kashi respectively.

The Best Costume Design Award went to Neda Nasr for ‘The List of the Dead’.

Best Offstage Play (Unusual Places) was given to ‘Guilty Landscapes’ by Dries Verhoeven (the Netherlands).

The 36th Fadjr International Theater Festival was held from January 18 to 28 in Tehran.

Winners

Best Play Award:

Jointly won by ‘The History Boys’ by Ashkan Khalilnejad, and ‘Melancholy of the Dragons’ by Philippe Quesne, France

Best Directing Award:

Ashkan Khalilnejad for ‘The History Boys’ – Iran, Tehran

Best Playwriting Award:

Mehdi Ziachamani for ‘The Omissions’ – Iran, Mashhad

Special Jury Award for Best Dramatic Composition:

Masoud Delkhah for ‘Mephisto’ – Iran, Tehran

Best Acting Award (male):

Morteza Esmaeil-Kashi for ‘Mephisto’ – Iran, Tehran

Best Acting Award (female):

Katja Bürkle for ‘Hamlet’ – Germany

Best Stage Design Award:

Ashkan Khalilnejad for ‘Boys of History’ – Iran, Tehran

Best Costume Design Award:

Neda Nasr for ‘The List of the Dead’ – Iran, Tehran

Best Music/Sound Design Award:

Valentijn Dhaenens for ‘Big Mouth’ – Belgium

Best Offstage Play (Unusual Places):

‘Guilty Landscapes’ by Dries Verhoeven – The Netherlands

Special Mention:

Remote Tehran, Rimini Protocol Company – Germany

The 36th Fajr International Theater Festival was held January 18 to 28 in Tehran.

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German industrial group Siemens is about to undertake financing rail and power plant projects worth 3 billion euros in Iran, a senior Iranian official says.

“On a trip to Germany, we had discussions about Siemens’ participation in Iran’s railway and power plant projects,” Deputy Minister of Road and Urban Development for International Affairs Asghar Fakhriyeh-Kashan said on Tuesday.

In the rail sector, Iran is going to buy a number of wagons from Siemens for use on a high-speed line between Tehran, Qom and Isfahan, he said. Siemens will also cooperate on providing signaling equipment and installing communication signs.

“Through financing a number of construction projects, Siemens plans to enter into a joint venture with Iran’s MAPNA company both in the power plant and locomotive manufacturing sector in order to boost domestic production,” he said.

Last month, the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) signed a $1.5 billion deal to finance the electrification of a high-speed rail line between the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad.

EXIM’s Vice President Sun Ping said in Tehran that the institution had provided loans for 26 Iranian projects in the electricity, petrochemicals, non-ferrous metals, oil and gas sectors, worth $9 billion.

China Railway Group Limited (CREC) is carrying out the $1.8 billion electrification of the high-speed rail link between Tehran, Qom and Isfahan.

Iran has announced plans to splurge up to $25 billion over the next 10 years on the modernization and expansion of its railway network.

Siemens was one of the first major companies to agree on a deal with Iran after the lifting of sanctions in January 2016, signing a $1.6 billion memorandum of understanding on Iran’s rail infrastructure and a long-term roadmap with MAPNA on the power sector.

The agreement included a license for manufacturing F-class gas turbines in Iran, under which more than 20 gas turbines and associated generators will be delivered over the next four to five years.

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