The 12th Iran’s women Handball league starts 11October 2016.

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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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India and Iran aim to strike a deal by March to develop an Iranian gas field with estimated in-place reserves of 18.75 trillion cubic feet, the Indian government said in a statement on Wednesday.

A consortium headed by ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, discovered the Farzad B gas field in the Farsi offshore block in 2008, Reuters reported.

The consortium, which also includes Oil India and Indian Oil Corp, could not obtain permission to develop the field due to Western sanctions against Iran’s nuclear energy program, but those sanctions were removed earlier this year.

OVL is preparing a master plan for development of the gas field, while also working on a pricing formula, the statement said.

India is the second largest buyer of Iranian oil after China, and New Delhi is seeking ways to deepen trade ties with Tehran now that sanctions have been lifted.

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Iran has signed initial agreements with Germany’s Hermes insurance firm and Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV) to provide cover for transactions with Europe.

The Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI) signed the agreements in Lisbon on the sidelines of the annual meeting of Bern Union — an association of private and state export credit insurers from around the world, IRNA reported Wednesday.

Under the agreement, the Iranian and European sides will cooperate on “exchange of economic, trade and banking information, reinsurance coverage, coinsurance, and training”.

IRNA quoted EGFI Managing Director Kamal Seyyed-Ali as saying that European export credit insurers were increasingly interested in financing projects after the lifting of sanctions on Iran.

“Given our good track record in repayment of finance installments and Iran’s foreign exchange reserves and the nonexistence of outstanding debts, these institutions are interested in the Iranian financing market despite the problems created by the US Treasury,” he said.

Banks and financial institutions are holding back on moving into Iran because they are fearful of falling foul of American sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iran paid off its debt of about €500 million to Hermes

Iran paid off its debt of about €500 million to Hermes, Iranian Ambassador in Berlin Ali Majedi said in June, clearing the way for the resumption of insurance services.

Hermes, which extends insurance coverage to Iranian exports, has been encouraging German banks to normalize ties with Iran.

Last month, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) said Austrian export credit agency OeKB had raised its cover for Iran transactions to one billion euros.

Raiffeisen Bank and Erste Bank from Austria along with banks from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey and Belgium have set up shop in Iran, handling transactions with the energy-rich country while major banks have stayed away.

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry said an Iranian delegation composed of deputy foreign ministers are to hold general talks with European Union (EU) officials in Brussels in December.

Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi announced the prospective negotiations on Monday, saying the talks will cover a range of issues, possibly human rights, but asserted that the delegation would not be comprising a human rights team, Press TV reported.

“Our ties with Europe are fundamental and age-old and we have numerous commonalities and can even differ on issues that have to do with values and regional affairs,” he said.

Talks between Iran and Europe have existed in the past, too, and “given the inherent capacities of Iran and the capacities of Europe, they will continue,” Qassemi said.

“Our outlook on the issue of human rights through [the prism of] Islam has a special characteristic, which may not be comprehensible to some of them (the Europeans); [but] we can hear about their outlook and tell them about ours, too,” the Iranian official said.

Qassemi further said that the Islamic Republic had generally maintained good relations with most European countries, with the exception of the past years, during which sanctions had put relations in a certain condition.

“Today, with the removal of the sanctions, the two sides are engaging in recurrent consultations in different areas,” he said.

Iran has been invited to hold talks with Europe on higher levels, he said, and added that such negotiations would take place in the due course.

Close engagement between major players in Europe led to the conclusion of a nuclear accord with Iran in Vienna in July 14, 2015. The agreement, to which the United States, Russia, and China were also parties, ended 12 years of a dispute with Iran over its peaceful nuclear program.

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A comprehensive document for bilateral maritime transport and port cooperation was signed between Iran and the Netherlands.

The deal was sealed by Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi and Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment of the Netherlands Schultz van Haegen.

During the MoU-signing ceremony, Schultz van Haegen of the Dutch ministry said the two countries ink the deal with the aim of strategic development of maritime and port activities noting “the agreement holds great significance given the role played by both parties in their areas of jurisdiction.”

Iran’s Akhundi, for his part, pointing to the joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Tehran and Amsterdam asserting “the Netherlands remains as a major European country in the field of maritime transport as a great portion Europe’s maritime transport is carried out through Dutch ports.”

“The main axis of talks between the two states in the field of transport marks use of existing facilities to enable maritime logistics between Iran and the Netherlands,” he underlined adding “negotiations were held over development of Phase 3 of Shahid Rajaee Port as well as Chabahar port for the Dutch side to take part in Iran’s port tenders in case of willingness.”

The Iranian minister further pointed to the held talks over road transport adding “presently no MoU exists between the two sides though Iran has made a proposal for study to the Dutch minister and the results would hopefully lead to an agreement in future.”

“Currently, a total of 800 Iranian trucks commute to the European country and the draft of an MoU has been inked,” he maintained.

Minister: Iran-Netherlands flights in recent days stating that the first KLM flights was performed and direct flights will hopefully be boosted in near future.

Abbas Akhundi also touched upon resumption of Iran-Netherlands flights in recent days stating that the first KLM flights was performed on Sunday and the number of direct flights will hopefully be boosted in near future.”

“Iran requires comprehensive cooperation with the Netherlands in order to restore new corridors between Europe and the East,” commented the official.

It is worth noting that the recent MoU between Iran and the Netherla.nds was inked in Tehran and covers several areas including bolstering of port and maritime ties, investment, formation of a joint committee, exchange of experts, training of managers as various levels, practical measures as well as development of logistic procedures.

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Finnish Ambassador to Tehran Harri Kämäräinen believes his country has a lot to share with Iran in areas such as nutritional research and sports teacher training courses.

Kämäräinen tough his small country is not at the same level as Iran is in connection with athletic performance.
“We have some features when it comes to the sports and training sportsmen. We can offer interesting training camps, for example, in the field of nutritional research for sportsmen. Finland is rather advanced in this area,” he said.
“Also, one more area for cooperation is the training of teachers, particularly when it comes to sports teachers. We could share our experience in this area, as well,” Kämäräinen added.

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National Iranian junior football team beat Uzbekistan to both cruise to AFC U-19 Championship semifinals and get tickets to next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea Republic.

Iran faced Uzbek rivals on Monday evening in Manama’s Bahrain National Stadium in quarterfinals of the AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016 where the Persians handed Uzbekistan a 2-0 defeat.

Reza Jafari gave Iran the lead after just 13 minutes although the Uzbeks dominated possession for what remained of the first half.

A second goal for Jafari less than two minutes into the second half left Uzbekistan with a tough task.

Uzbekistan pushed for goals throughout the match though their attempts were futile thanks to Iran’s disciplined backline

Given the sweeping victory over Uzbekistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran qualified for the finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 for the first time in 16 years.

Iran is scheduled to take on Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening in their upcoming encounter of the Asian tournament while Vietnam and Japan comprise the second leg of the semifinal round.

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Iran said on Sunday it will soon sign six agreements with international energy giants over the development of its oil sector projects.

Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, the deputy for engineering and development affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), specified neither the companies nor the projects. Nevertheless, he did indicate that the projects were large scale.

The foreign companies will play a central role in the development of major fields.

Manouchehri further emphasized that the companies that won oil sector deals in Iran would have to team up with locals, IRNA reported.

“The foreign companies will play a central role in the development of major fields,” said Manouchehri. “Still, they will have to use the help of Iranian companies for their projects.”

The official also added that Iranian companies can be only the project leader for the development of small fields and can use the help of foreign enterprises.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Manouchehri said that Iran has so far signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with 10 companies over the development of certain oil sector projects. However, he did not name the companies and the projects for which they have signed the MoUs.

Last week, the NIOC invited eligible international companies to participate in the pre-qualification phase of a tender for 50 exploration and development targets across the country.

The targets include a variety of low and average risk oil and gas fields. They include lucrative oil targets like South Azadegan, Changuleh, and Ahwaz-Bangestan as well as promising gas fields such as Kish, Farzad-A, North Pars, Golshan and Ferdowsi.

The tender is a central part of Iran’s plans to increase its production to above four million barrels per day – the same level that existed before a series of draconian US-led economic sanctions were imposed against the country in 2012. /IRAN-DAILY

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KLM Royal Dutch Airlines resumed its flights to IRAN on 23 October 2016. The KLM airlines has 14 weekly flights to Tehran Imam khomeini Airport (IKA).
You can book your ticket to Tehran here!

Recently Air France backed to Iran and Thai Airways start its flight to Tehran.

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