C lose to 22,000 tons of milk powder worth $77 million were exported from Iran during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Nov. 21, 2017), registering a 144% and 140% growth in weight and value respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Milk powder exports accounted for 14% of Iran’s overall dairy exports during the period, ISNA reported.

About 1,000 tons of infant formula worth $11 million were exported during the eight months to register a 33% and 8% decline year-on-year.  / Financial Tribune /

A bout 4.2 million tons of agricultural products worth $4.005 billion were exported from Iran during the nine months to Dec. 22, 2017, a deputy agriculture minister said.

“Agricultural products made up 12.7% of Iran’s total non-oil exports in terms of value and 4.74% in terms of tonnage during the nine-month period,” IRNA also quoted Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh as saying.

Horticultural products topped the list of Iran’s agro exports value-wise, as 906,000 tons worth $1.92 billion were shipped during the period.

Iran’s agriculture sector expanded by 4.2% in the last Iranian year (March 2016-17) compared to the preceding year, the Central Bank of Iran said.

Iran exported about 1.37 million tons of processed food products worth more than $2.07 billion during the same period under review to register a 13% and 0.5% growth in weight and value respectively compared with the similar period of last year.

Chocolate with around $188 million, cheese and dry whey with $154 million and yoghurt with $141 million were the main processed food shipped exported, together accounting for 23% of the export value in this sector. / Financial Tribune /

The organizers of the 36th Fajr Film Festival announced the jury for the official competition on Friday.

The jury is composed of filmmakers Kamal Tabrizi and Rasul Sadr-Ameli, cinematographer Bahram Badakhshani and film expert Hassan Khojasteh.

Film critic Khosro Dehqan, producer Fereshteh Taerpur, and actor Mohammadreza Forutan are other members of the jury.

The 36th Fajr Film Festival will be held in Tehran from February 1 to 11. /  Tehran times /

Prof. Barch a senior German banking expert official has underlined that the Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys high capability to be turned into a financial technology hub in the region.

Barch made the remarks at the 7th Annual Conference on Electronic Banking and Payment Systems and said, “thanks to its scientific capacities, Iran can be a leader in the field of Fintech in the Middle East region.”

Turning to the concept of technical integration, he reiterated, “this concept is related to the longevity of banks, so that banks should be able to meet customers’ demand in the best form possible.”

Also, banks should be able to provide several options for their customers in order to encourage them [customers] using pertinent services optimally, he opined.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the professor added, “the issues on the digitization of channels, mobiles and banking based on data have been taken into serious consideration in today’s banking system.”

Banks always think that all products should have been produced by them but actually banks should focus on expanding and developing production chain, he said, adding, “presently, the number of bank branches are no long determinant, rather, information technology (IT) system and prediction of clients’ behavior are decisive.”

In Europe, banks are moving towards digitization process, so that an account can be opened within eight minutes and in the shortest time possible using an application, he emphasized.

In general, speed and flexibility of digitization will be so sophisticated that other traditional banks will no longer be able to compete with the modern banks, he said, adding, “intermediary banks may disappear in the near future. Under such circumstances, business models should be changed and integrity should be accelerated in the banking system.”

However, Iranian banks should take advantage of fruitful experiences of European banks in line with moviring towards a regional technology hub in the ME region.

In conclusion, Prof. Barch called on responsible officials to create an attractive digital channel with high safety and security for clients in order to offer high-quality banking services to these customers optimally. / Mehr news/

United World Wrestling (UWW) has selected Iran as the host country for the U23 freestyle world wrestling championships in 2020.

According to a proposal presented by Iran on a collaborative holding of the U23 world wrestling championships of combined events, Iran will hold the championships in the freestyle category and Finland will host competitions in the Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling categories in 2020.

Iran had been unable to host the events since 2002, due to the requirement for holding the world wrestling championships concurrently in the three categories of freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling.

The country has made a lot of efforts since then to be able to host the championships once more, and to that end, offered a proposal to the UWW on a collaborative holding of the events, which was approved during a session in 2016 in Hungary and later in 2017 in Paris.

At the Paris session, Iran’s representative noted the reducing number of applicants for hosting the international wrestling competitions due to financial and executive difficulties, and made the proposal for a collaborative holding of the championships with another country.

The members of the UWW board of directors approved the plan and agreed on selecting Iran for the freestyle category of the events in 2020, while Finland would hold the other two categories.

/ Mehr News /

Researchers in a knowledge based company managed to produce soundproofing insulation to be installed between floors in the buildings.

Director General of a knowledge based company Mohammadreza Montazeri said that the company has managed to produce acoustic percussion insulation that is used to reduce the transmission of noise between the different levels of buildings.

“The produced insulation is flexible with high durability and resistance, and prevents the spread of extra noise between floors,” he added.

Montazeri said that the company carries out research to find out solutions to noise pollution in buildings and added that the company has built an acoustic laboratory where acoustic experiments can be carried out on walls, the floor, doors, windows, etc.

“In our research, we have been able to identify the best material and investigate their acoustic characteristics which led to the production of cheap, high-quality insulation for buildings,” he added. / Mehr News /

Deputy Minister of Agricultural Jihad Hassan Rokni said talks are underway with the Iraqi officials to remove the obstacles ahead of tariff levied on dairy and dairies’ products.

Rokni put the export growth of dairies in the nine month of the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (from March 21 to Dec. 22) at more than 30 percent.

He also put the export value of poultry products in the same period at $843 million and said, “statistics show that the trade balance in livestock and poultry sector turned positive in the nine months of the current year.”

Over 750,000 tons of milk and various types of dairies were exported from the country in the same period, expandable to one million tons before termination of the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (to end March 20, 2018), Rokni maintained.

In response to a question in the field of tariff levied for export of dairies to neighboring Iraq, he reiterated, “the Iraqi government has relatively considered some restrictions for all countries in this respect but country’s export of dairies to Iraq is still underway.”

The responsible officials at the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad are making their utmost efforts to convince Iraqi side to reconsider this issue meticulously, the deputy minister of Agriculture observed.

To conclude his remarks, he emphasized, “under such circumstances, it is expected that consumption of dairies will experience a considerable decline in Iraq.”  / Mehr News /

Head of Plan and Budget Organization Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht put the country’s economic growth in the next Iranian calendar year in 1397 (to start March 21, 2018) at eight percent.

Achieving eight percent economic growth, generation of employment opportunities for more than one million job-seeking people in the next year and also planning to accelerate semi-finished projects have been taken into serious consideration in the next Iranian year (to start March 21, 2018), he maintained.

Speaking in the introduction and valediction ceremony of former and new heads of National Development Fund of Iran, he expressed his special thanks to the unflinching and unsparing efforts of former head of NDFI Ahmad Doost-Hosseini in line with materializing most economic objectives of the Fund.

He pointed to the restriction of financial and economic resources of the country and added, “it is necessary that effective and constructive measures should be taken in order to manage financial resources optimally.”

To conclude his remarks, he said, “National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) is a national wealth and its managers are trustees of these resources. It is our duty to deliver these resources to the next generation in the best form possible optimally.” / Mehr news /

Academy award-winning film ‘The Salesman’ directed by Asghar Farhadi has been nominated for 2018 BAFTA Awards in the Best Film Not in the English Language category.

‘The Salesman’, which won acclaimed director Asghar Farhadi his second Oscar, has now been nominated by 2018 BAFTAs for Best Film Not in the English Language, along with ‘Elle’, ‘First They Killed My Father’, ‘The Handmaiden’, and ‘Loveless’.

‘The Salesman’ won the Best Actor award, for star Shahab Hosseini, and the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. It also garnered the Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film given by the International Press Academy.

The Iranian drama tells the story of Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), a couple who are part-time actors playing Willy and Linda Loman in a Tehran production of Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’, when an intruder in their new home shakes this marriage to its core.

The 71st British Academy Film Awards, known as the BAFTAs, will be held on 18 February 2018 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Full list of nominees:

Best film

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas)

The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale)

Three billboard outside Ebbing, Missouri (Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh)

Outstanding British film

Darkest Hour

The Death of Stalin

God’s Own Country

Paddington 2

Three billboard outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer

The Ghoul (Gareth Tunley [Writer/Director/Producer], Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meeten [Producers])

I Am Not A Witch (Rungano Nyoni [Writer/Director], Emily Morgan (Producer)

Jawbone (Johnny Harris [Writer/Producer], Thomas Napper [Director])

Lady Macbeth (Alice Birch [Writer], William Oldroyd [Director], Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly [Producer])

Film not in the English language

Elle (Paul Verhoeven, Saïd Ben Saïd)

First They Killed My Father (Angelina Jolie, Rithy Panh)

The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim)

Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky)

The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi, Alexandre Mallet-Guy)

Documentary

City of Ghosts (Matthew Heineman)

I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck)

Icarus (Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan)

An Inconvenient Sequel (Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk)

Jane (Brett Morgen)

Animated Film

Coco (Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson)

Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Ivan Mactaggart)

My Life As A Courgette (Claude Barras, Max Karli)

Director

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve)

Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)

Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan)

The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro)

Three billboard outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)

Original screenplay

Get Out (Jordan Peele)

I, Tonya (Steven Rogers)

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)

The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor)

Three billboard outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)

Adapted Screenplay

Caall Me By Your Name (James Ivory)

The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider)

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (Matt Greenhalgh)

Molly’s Game (Aaron Sorkin)

Paddington 2 (Simon Farnaby, Paul King)

Leading Actress

Annette Bening (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)

Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)

Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Leading Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)

Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Jamie Bell (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool)

Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)

/ Mehr news /

The statistics show that following the implementation of Iran’s nuclear deal, the hydroelectricity sector of Iran’s economy has attracted %8.2 billion foreign investments.

Signing and the implementation of Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers and lifting the imposed sanctions against Iran paved the way for attracting foreign investment in Iran’s economy. In this vein, water and electricity sector has attracted more than 8 billion worth of foreign investment.

The statistics of Iran’s energy ministry indicate that from the beginning the 11th administration to the end of last summer, more than $4 billion worth of projects were put in operation and 5, 138 MW electricity were added to the national grid

Moreover, $13.726 billion worth of domestic and foreign investment is being negotiated and the related contracts are going to be finalized soon.

When these contracts are put into operation, more than 3,000 MW will be added to the country’s power plants. / Mehr news /