Mahmoud Reza Barazesh referred to the significance of the print industry, saying that the industry enjoys high importance across the world going in parallel with publishing the books.
Nearly 80 percent of the Iranian printing sets are German made and several German companies are represented in the country, he said, adding certain raw materials such paint and paste are currently imported from Germany.
He said that Iranians have active presence in Dusseldorf Printing Exhibition.
Barazesh said that close to 1,000 Iranians attend the event every four years to get acquainted with the latest progress of the printing industry.
Meanwhile, the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Department for Printing and Publishing is seeking to pave the way for broader ties between the Iranian and German printing sectors in the post-sanctions era.
Kemper, for his part, called for further cooperation in the field, saying, ‘We can hold talks with the Iranian and German chambers of commerce to promote cooperation in the field of print industry.’

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on February 5 “prospectively removed” the restriction that previously prevented the American Club from providing cover for Iranian cargoes, the New York-based insurer said in a circular on its website, according to Bloomberg business networks.
The club is “now generally available for non-US person Members’ transportation of crude and products to and from Iran.”
In terms of Iranian exports, insurance “is where the biggest problem has been and now that seems to have been resolved, at least that’s one problem out of the way,” Erik Nikolai Stavseth, a shipping analyst at Arctic Securities ASA in Oslo, told Bloomberg.
It’s likely that European insurers will follow since the US club has been cleared to provide cover, he said.
Iran is trying to rebuild its oil output after sanctions were lifted in January that had restricted sales for the prior four years.
U.S. curbs on insurers weren’t eased at the same time as the restrictions on exports were stopped.
Iran is expected to increase crude oil production by 100,000 barrels a day, or 3.7 percent, a month after sanctions were lifted and by 400,000 in six months, according to the median estimate of 12 analysts and economists surveyed by Bloomberg in mid-January.
The American Club is one of 13 members of the International Group of P&I Clubs in London, who collectively cover more than 90 percent of the global tanker fleet against risks including oil spills.
The IG said just before sanctions were lifted against Iran that U.S. curbs were still causing obstacles to its members’ ability to cover Iranian cargoes.

Araqchi made the remarks in a meeting of Isfahan Governor General, mayor, head of Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture of Isfahan province.
He highlighted the role played by tourism to boost national economy.
He said that the JCPOA provided a golden opportunity to resolve Iran’s economic problems and pave the way for Iran’s advancement and economic development.
Araqchi stressed that the Foreign Ministry is the path opener, while the people and economic activists should use this opportunity to develop their international activities.
Meanwhile, Araqchi advised the private sector activists that signing international memoranda of understanding and agreement is the first steps to keep up with the protocols.
He said that the private sector can do the job freely without going through such procedures.

“Iran’s oil industry needs investment, technology and management transfer in the industry’s various sectors in the post-sanctions era,” Shana quoted him saying at the joint meeting of Iranian and Italian companies.
He referred to Iran’s significant role in the region and added, “Iran is part of the solution of the regional problems.”
“Iran has political, security, and democracy stability and as a player in the international arena, is trying to restore stability to the region.”
“Considering Iran’s political and security stability, it is an apt destination for foreign investors,” he added.
“Iran needs hundreds of billion dollars of investment in various oil industry sectors,” Zamani-Nia added, “We hope that Italy can provide for part of the capital and invest in Iran.”
The deputy minister introduced IOR and EOR as Iran’s investment priorities and said European companies are qualified in assisting Iran in enhanced recovery and energy consumption optimization.
He said Iran and Italy have a cooperation background in Darkhowein and Balal oil fields and hoped that they can revitalize their ties.
Zamani-Nia also told Italian business and corporate people in the meeting that Iran has plans to increase gas production to more than 1 billion cubic meters a day and said, “Iran hopes to export LNG to Europe in the long-term.”

‘It is a unique historic opportunity [for Russia] to rush to our emerging market. This is a once in 20 year opportunity,’ Kourosh Taherfar said at a press conference in Moscow, sputniknews.com said.
Taherfar added that Moscow would benefit the most from investing in tourism and agriculture, as well as in road railways construction, oil storage and petrochemical products.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s positive assessment of Tehran’s compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal reached with six world powers in mid-January led to the immediate lifting of UN and EU sanctions, as well as partial sanctions relief by the United States, opening the way for Iran’s return to the global market.

Speaking in a conference called ‘post-sanctions Iran and its prospects for Russian economic circles’, Kril Gromov said that Russian companies should get a share in Iran’s market in 6-9 months.

Meanwhile, Olga Rozina, an expert with the Herbert Smith Freehills Company, said in the same gathering, that Iran is regarded as an important market in the Middle East.

She said that the Ministry of Road and Urban Development of Iran expects $26b foreign investment to be used in infrastructural projects.

Iranian ambassador to Russia, Mahdi Sanaie was also present in the conference.

He explained briefed the participants on Iran’s current situation, potentials and opportunities.

Sanaie voiced Tehran’s readiness to develop diplomatic, economic and cultural ties with all world countries.

He added that Iran has a great economic potential and capacity for cooperating with other countries in the fields of strategic agricultural products, mines, industries, tourism, etc.

On the development of Iran-Russia relations, he expressed hope that Russian merchants and investors would take advantage of the present opportunity in Iran to follow their common goals with their Iranian counterparts.

Tokyo lifted sanctions against Iran last month after a landmark nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic went into effect.
BTMU can now process Iranian oil payments for Japanese refiners both in the yen and euros, energy and metals information provider Platts said, citing an unnamed bank official.
According to the agency, BTMU handled most of Japan’s payments for Iranian oil prior to the sanctions in mid-2012. Japanese refiners made their Iran oil payments in yen via an account held by the Bank of Japan, it added.
Last week, an official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was quoted as saying that it wanted to settle payments for its new and outstanding oil sales in euros.
‘In our invoices we mention a clause that buyers of our oil will have to pay in euros, considering the exchange rate versus the dollar around the time of delivery,’ the source told Reuters.
NIOC signed a framework agreement last month to sell up 200,000 barrels per day of crude to French oil and gas major Total.
Spanish refiner Cepsa will ship a 1-million barrel cargo of Iranian oil to its refineries, while Litasco, the trading arm of Russia’s Lukoil, also plans buys from Iran.
NIOC said the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) had decided to carry out all foreign trade in euros when the country was still under sanctions.
However, a NIOC official said the company prefers to receive its oil payments and debt repayments in euros.
‘Iran’s first priority is to receive the oil money and debts in the euros,’ Safarali Keramati, deputy NIOC director of international affairs in charge of marketing and crude oil operations, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
He said NIOC has considered several currencies for this purpose but any choice would depend on the buyers’ preference too.
Japan’s Cosmo Energy Holdings Co., Chiyoda Corp. and Inpex Corp. are among the companies which have indicated to deepen relations with Iran after the lifting of sanctions.
Cosmo Energy is weighing to increase crude purchases from Iran, while Inpex, Japan’s biggest energy explorer, wants to make investments in Iranian assets.
Japanese industrial plant maker Chiyoda reached a basic agreement to renovate refineries in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, NHK reported last week.
Meanwhile, Japan’s largest refiner JX Nippon Oil & Energy has confirmed renewing its annual 2016 term contract with Iran.
Other refiners, Showa Shell and Idemitsu Kosan, will be renewing their term contracts that are due to start in April, Platts said. (Press TV)

1) From a legal viewpoint, conclusion of these contracts by the Iranian government will guarantee continuation of the achievements of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), even in the event of its possible failure. In fact and in simple words, according to Article 14 of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, those contracts that are signed at the time that anti-Iran sanctions are lifted, will be largely immune if sanctions snap back. In other words, even in case of restoration of sanctions, they will not be applied “retrospectively” to cover these contracts too.
Therefore, such important and vast areas of cooperation as energy, air transportation, telecommunications, health, environment, agriculture, education, transportation and many others sectors, which are covered by contracts that have been signed with the European sides, will be largely immune to possible snapback of sanctions. This situation, while being a source of confidence and stability for the private sector and helping Iran’s industries to take advantage of many important services and modern technologies, will also change the balance of power in favor of Iran in the course of the implementation of JCPOA. In fact, the bitter experience of sanctions and their ensuing shock, on the one hand, and the conditions related to the period of the implementation of JCPOA and the need to bolster Iran’s standing in negotiations during this period, on the other hand, provide good justification for recent cautionary measures taken by the government, while providing necessary psychological atmosphere to attract investors.
2) By signing valuable and long-term contracts with European private sector and important countries, and by making those companies dependent on Iran, the administration of President Rouhani will practically create some sort of civil and organic “resistance” in the European Union’s capitals against possible restoration of sanctions and also in the face of hostile policies that may be adopted against Tehran. During past days, we have seen that some critical media are angry or even concerned that why, as they claim, Rouhani administration has, for example, “saved” France’s Airbus from stagnation, and have complained about what they perceived as “generosity” of the Iranian administration citing France’s behavior in past years. In reality, however, such critics have failed to look at this issue from the viewpoint of the opposite side and have not been able to correctly assess strategic advantages of such a relationship for Iran. In fact, considering the sensitive economic situation that currently prevails in Europe, the fate and competitive ability of the most important European companies, and subsequently, the fate of thousands of jobs and employees of those companies hinges on good relations with Tehran. As a result, economic actors as well as the civil society in these countries will be more than willing to push for the improvement and maintenance of relations with Iran.
3) By signing valuable contracts with world-famous European companies – and by doing this through a well calculated publicity stunt – Rouhani administration has been practically trying to prompt many of their American rivals to raise their voice against the continuation of the United States’ unilateral sanctions against Iran.
Even as of now, early signs of protest to “American companies lagging behind” their European counterparts can be seen in the US media due to legal restrictions imposed on American companies for trade with Iran. Even some top politicians and presidential candidates in the United States have reacted to this issue. Therefore, we see that a person like the US Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, who has always introduced himself as a staunch opponent of the nuclear deal with Iran, has appeared on US media and social networks, expressing his consternation at the fact that France’s Airbus has succeeded to sell planes to Iran instead of the United States’ Boeing. Naturally, continuation of such protests and gradual awareness of the US public opinion about them can lead to emergence of some sort of popular resistance against continuation of Washington’s unilateral sanctions against Iran. The least such protests can do is to make American companies take steps to prevent further anti-Iranian measures by the US Congress, or find loopholes in the laws as well as legal mechanisms to circumvent sanctions. Apart from expert and constructive critiques of the recent contracts, in reality, the lion’s share of criticism that is raised by those Iranian media who are against the administration’s policies is based on the premise that when dealing with the West, it is Iran, which is always at loss and puts its independence in jeopardy and open to their control. However, Iran’s new position and power in international arena as well as the type of relations and the dynamism between the private and public sectors in Western countries, easily refutes this premise.
(Reza Nasri, Iran Review)

The 15-clause protocol anticipates opening of governmental export credit for economic and industrial projects.

The Iranian and Russian deputy economy ministers underlined the need for the expansion of mutual cooperation in different economic fields and the need for further cooperation and efforts in this regard.

The two sides also exchanged views on financing the industrial projects in the two countries.