Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, who is accompanying President Rouhani on his trip to India, announced on Saturday that Indians have expressed their initial agreement to invest $ 2 billion in Iran’s ports and railways.

Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi said that Indians have expressed their initial agreement to invest in Iranian ports and railways network, adding that various issues in the port and rail areas will be finalized during Rouhani’s visit to India, and the joint venture with India in these two areas will reach about $2 billion through these projects.

The agreement was inked Friday in India’s capital New Delhi in the presence of Abbas Akhoundi, Iran’s minister of roads and urban development, and his Indian counterpart Nitin Gadkari. The project will be fully implemented within three years.

Gadkari, in turn, said the new trains will help transport passengers and freight in Iran, adding that “they will also be used in the Chabahar-Zahedan railroad to accelerate development of the Chabahar Port in line with India’s goal to connect to Central Asia and ultimately Europe through this Iranian port.”

He said that Iran’s cooperation with India in port and rails have been planned to take place in four categories. The two sides have already reached general agreement in this regard, and the agreements will be finalized during Rouhani’s current trip to India.

He said that one of the categories is India’s investment in Chabahar-Zahedan railway line. He stressed that this is an important and strategic railway line, which Iran wants to complete through cooperation with the Indians. He said that initial agreement has been reached for an amount of $800 million, and the agreement will be finalized and announced during Rouhani’s current trip to India.

He went on to say that Iran pursuing other important discussions with the Indians, such as joint production of locomotives. Initial agreements have already been reached to build a joint production of freight locomotive. This agreement would also be finalized and announced during Rouhani’s trip.

The construction of railway line in Isfahan Steel Mill, with a capacity of 300,000 tons per year, is another measure that would be undertaken in cooperation with the Indians. This would also be finalized during Rouhani’s trip.

Another joint project with the Indians to be finalized would be regarding the management of Chabahar Port. Indians would investment $87 million in this project. A temporary contract will be concluded in this area under which the Indians would be deployed there until the arrival of the equipment enters and their full investment takes place there.

/ Mehr news /

Public and Revolution Prosecutor Hossein Salami revealed the discovery of a 4,500-year-old antique trophy in Jiroft, Kerman province.

An antique trophy, related to the Stone Age, which is in the form of a handbag was recently discovered in one of the villages in suburb of Jiroft.

This antique object, dating back to 4500 years ago, was uncovered at the unsparing and unflinching effort of police and intelligence forces in Jiroft, he said, adding, “in this respect, three accused persons were identified.”

Investigation is underway about following up the case meticulously, he maintained.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the public prosecutor reiterated, “this antique object was inspected by the expert official in provincial Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization.”

This trophy is of qualitative marble shape related to the Stone Age which is as high as 28cm with 28-cm width and as diameter as eight centimeters at large, Salami emphasized.

He said that judicial system will deal with smugglers of antique objects decisively within the framework of rules and regulations. / Mehrnews /

The six-day long Iranian film show will end on Wednesday at the auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum. Two movies — ‘Cling Up’ dubbed in Bangla by Golam Hossain and ‘Today’ by Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi — will be screened on the last day of the film show.

The film festival began on Thursday with the screening of famous Iranian film ‘Body Guard’ directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia.

The Iran Cultural Centre’s Dhaka chapter and Bangladesh National Museum jointly arranged the film show on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (National Day).

‘Sweet Taste of Imagination’ produced by Mohammad-Ali Hossein-Nezhad, and ‘Trik’ by Iraj Ghaderi, dubbed in Bangla, were screened on Saturday (Feb 10) while the audience enjoyed ‘Fourth Child’ by Vabid Mosiayan and ‘Earthquake’ by Sairus Alvando, dubbed in Bangla on Sunday (Feb 11).

‘Crazy Look’ by Abul Hasan Boudi and Kiumars Pourahmad’s latest drama ‘Where are my shoes’ will be screened on February 12 while the screening of ‘A Cube of Sugar’ by Seyyed Reza Mir-Karimi and ‘Golchehreh’ by Vahid Shamsaei was held on February 13.

The movies will be screened with Bangla dubbing and English subtitles at 11am and 3pm every day. The show is free for all.

On the occasion of 39th anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (National Day) Iran Cultural Centre, Dhaka arranged a discussion meeting on ‘Independence, National Ability and Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran’ inauguration of 6 days long Iranian Film Show (jointly organized by Iran Cultural Centre, Dhaka and Bangladesh National Museum) at the main auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum on Friday, 9th February, 2018 at 3.30 p.m.

The program chaired by Mr. Faizul Latif Chowdhury, Director General, Bangladesh National Museum, Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque MP, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance was present as Chief Guest.

Dr. Abbas Vaezi Dehnavi, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Bangladesh, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Mahbubul Islam, Vice Chancellor, Daffodil International University and Dr. Enamul Haque, Former Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, BUET & eminent actor were present as special guests.

Dr. Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan, Professor, Dept. of Islamic History & Culture, University of Dhaka presented the keynote paper. Inaugural speech was given by Mr. Seyed Mousa Hosseini, the Cultural Counsellor of Iran Cultural Centre.

The program was followed by screening of the famous Iranian film ‘Body Guard’, directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia.

Iranian Films scheduled to be screened everyday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. from 10 to 14th February, 2018 at the main auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum.

We will be grateful if you publish this news in your esteemed daily.

Some 5301 water and electricity projects are due to be inaugurated in Iran on the occasion of Ten-Day Dawn (February 1-10, marking the victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution), IRIB reported citing energy ministry’s news portal.

Some 5119 electricity transmission and distribution projects worth 27.23 trillion rials (near $602.5 million), over 183 megawatts capacity of renewable projects, seven power plants projects worth $2.09 billion, 100 water projects worth 101.419 trillion rials (about $2.24 billion) and 32 water resources management projects worth 3.278 trillion rials ($72.5 million) are among the projects which are going to be implemented or inaugurated.

/ Tehran times/

D efending champion Iran underlined its title credentials with a comprehensive 14-0 victory over Myanmar in their Group C opener at the 2018 AFC Futsal Championships on Friday in Taipei, Taiwan.

Iran wasted little time asserting its authority with two goals inside the first minute to immediately take control of the match.

According to The-afc.com, the first came within seconds of kick off when Iran forced a turnover and AFC Futsal Player of the Year Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh slid the ball across for a simple tap in for Mahdi Javid.

No less than 30 seconds later and the team had its second of the evening courtesy of Hassanzadeh, who added Iran’s third and his second a further three minutes later.

Iran then proceeded to go on a scoring spree, adding five goals in the space of three minutes, which included a run of three goals in a minute, to more than put the match beyond doubt half way through the first half.

Myanmar’s defense solidified in the final 10 minutes of the first half, with Yan Paing Hein making some wonderful saves, to restrict Iran to just one further goal for the half, which saw them head in at half time with a commanding 9-0 lead.

In the opening 10 minutes of the second half Myanmar’s defense held firm again, with Iran scoring only once in the 22nd minute when Javid scored his third for the evening.

But a flurry of late goals – a further four in the final 10 minutes – added some extra icing onthe cake for Iran.

In the end, Hassanzadeh and Javid ended with four goals apiece, while Hossein Tayebi tallied a hat-trick highlighting their dominance across the evening.

After the game, Myanmar head coach Htay Myint said, “Iran is a world class team, so we told our players to take this match as an experience. We will try to fix our defensive tactics, and that’s what we will improve on for our next match. We already have a plan for Iraq, and that’s a final game for us if we want to go to the next round”.

On his side’s decisive victory, Mohammmad Nazem Alsharie, Iran head coach said, “this was a game that we expected. Myanmar is a good team which is fast. The only problem it had was experience.”

Iran will next play China on Sunday, while Myanmar will play Iraq, which enjoyed a confidence-boosting win over China in the earlier Group C match on Friday.

/ Financial Tribune /

Iranian speed climber Reza Alipour has been crowned the 2017 International World Games Association (IWGA) Athlete of the Year.

Alipour, nicknamed the ‘Persian Cheetah’, received 90,790 votes in the contest with second place going to Ukrainian powerlifter Larysa Soloviova, who scored 90,036.

Speed skater Fabriana Arias from Colombia finished third with 48,014 votes.

Reza Alipour did not only win The World Games title in Speed Climbing in July 2017, he also holds the World Record in this discipline.

The 23-year-old faced his final race at the Games alone – his competitor had a false start – but was able to keep himself together and finish with the fastest time, 5.57.

His medal was the first ever gold medal for Iran at The World Games.

A total of 21 athletes, all of whom competed at The World Games last summer, were nominated for the Athlete of the Year vote.

Last year, Muaythai fighter Sofia Olofsson (Sweden) won the title Athlete of the Year with 15,816 votes. She received her award in an award ceremony at the SportAccord Convention.

/ Tehran times /

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 /