Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Islamic Republic’s engagement with the United States beyond the nuclear issue is pending a decisive change in the US policy to win the Iranians’ trust.

“The US should try to overcome this distrust. First, US officials should quit making irresponsible remarks to create panic among our nation and top officials,” Zarif told ISNA on Sunday. “Second, they should stop their propaganda campaigns and seriously pursue their commitments” under the July nuclear deal, formally referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.”

The action plan was negotiated with P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) and took effect in mid-January to give Iran relief from the United Nations, European Union and United States sanctions, in exchange for temporary curbs on its nuclear program. The JCPOA requires Washington to cease the application of its sanctions.

“The US administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the president and the Congress, will refrain from reintroducing or reimposing the sanctions … that it has ceased applying under this JCPOA … The US administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the president and the Congress, will refrain from imposing new nuclear-related sanctions,” the deal says.

Zarif said it is the US actions rather than just words that will be considered by Iran to monitor its compliance with the deal. “This is what determines whether Iran will hold negotiations with the United States on issues other than the nuclear dispute. I agree with President Hassan Rouhani that Washington holds the key to this. Americans have yet to make an effort to address the Iranians’ distrust,” the top diplomat said.

“On paper, the American side has so far fulfilled its commitments. Despite some good practical measures such as the reconnection of Iranian banks to the [global transaction network] SWIFT system, there are still attempts to prevent the removal of sanctions.”

/financialtribune.com/

Recent statistics show that Iran’s scientific place in the world has advanced by two levels since the new Iranian government took office in August 2013–a feat linked to the growth in cooperation with foreign scientific entities. According to Scopus, Iran’s International Science Ranking was 18 and 16 in 2013 and 2015 respectively, which shows a jump of two ranks, IRNA reported. According to the Scopus database, the world percentage of science production in Iran was 1.35 and 1.51 in 2013 and 2015 respectively, which shows a 0.2% growth in its overall standing. Iran ranks first in the region and between other Muslim countries in the fields of science in those years, according to the database, while ISI (Information Sciences Institute) database has ranked Iran at second place. Iran’s scientific ranking is expected to improve further in the next couple of years, as the country has signed a significant number of memoranda of understanding with academic institutions globally since the implementation of the nuclear deal and the lifting of western sanctions.

/financialtribune.com/

Iran says it is preparing the grounds for its nation to use credit cards provided by Asian banks until the restrictions for using American payment operators like Visa and MasterCard are removed.

The country’s media have quoted an official with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as saying that negotiations to the same effect are currently underway with Japan Credit Bureau (JBC) as well as China UnionPay (CUP).

Davood Mohammad-Beigi, the CBI director for payment affairs, has been quoted as saying that JCB and CUP cards will be available to the Iranians before September.

Mohammad-Beigi has further emphasized that the CBI is determined to bring the global credit card payment systems into the country, stressing that the related technical talks on the same front have been going on with international suppliers for the past five months.

The official added that certain steps have also been planned to prepare the infrastructure required for using international credit cards in Iran, including connecting the domestic interbank payment system to overseas payment networks like the ones that Visa and MasterCard are using.

Mohammad-Beigi said the conditions for using Visa and MasterCard services are not prepared yet. This, he added, is because both are US enterprises and are still subject to the sanctions that the US government has put in place in dealing with Iran.

The legal department of the CBI is nonetheless preparing to take actions to remove the obstacles that are hindering Visa and MasterCard from operating in Iran in light of the openings that have been created after the January removal of anti-Iran sanctions, Mohammad-Beigi emphasized.

President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday again called on the huge auto manufacturing industry to wake up from their long slumber and improve their quality, if they want to remain in the increasingly competitive world car market.

“Unlimited and unwavering government support for the auto industry is tantamount to detaching an industry from international competitiveness. This (support) means low quality and high prices,” he said at the Third Iran International Automotive Conference in Tehran.

President Rouhani further warned that carmakers should not think government backing for their industry is a permanent fixture.

Decades of support have at times been in the form of “ban on imports and heavy tariffs cannot last forever. Supporting one industry in the face of competition from overseas has a timeframe and should be limited.”

Voicing the demand of most Iranian consumers and car buyers, the president said, “What is crucial for us is that our industries must have the necessary (high) quality and the ability to compete.”

This was the second time in as many months that Rouhani made a highly critical public assessment of the burgeoning but visibly dysfunctional auto manufacturing industry.

Last year in a live TV interview, he said, “An industry that is more than 50 years old must not expect support from the government.”

The government plans to hand over the reins of the auto industry to the private sector, he told the high-profile carmakers’ conference.

“The policy of the government is to completely privatize and hand over the auto industry to the people. The government will never make a good manager in industrial sectors, including car manufacturing,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by IRNA.

“The car industry needs to be privatized. It must be competitive,” he said.

The state currently controls roughly half the sector.

The president unveiled new products of the country’s major car manufacturers, Iran Khodro and SAIPA, on the sidelines of the conference.

In September, a domestic campaign emerged in social media to boycott what the organizers called “substandard, unsafe and expensive” Iranian-made cars, highlighting frustration at the lack of choice.

The Rouhani government managed to lure car customers back and ultimately rein in the campaign by offering long-term loans.

The auto industry is second in Iran after oil, accounting for up to 3% of gross domestic product and 12% of jobs.

“What matters is that this sector improve its comparative advantage by manufacturing quality products. Excess state backing for an industry would eliminate competition, resulting in a quality loss and even a price hike,” he said.

“The government will never favor the idea of imposing the products of the two carmakers on the nation by blocking imports to dictate a very limited consumer choice, telling the people ‘it is what it is,  take it or leave it’.”

 

***First Priority

Rouhani stressed that serving the public interest is the top priority of his government’s agenda.

“This government regards addressing the public interest and popular demands as its first priority and legal duty. In view of this, it is obvious that we need to create competition,” he said.

Iranian manufacturers hope that the return of foreign partners in the wake of the removal of sanctions last month will help them increase production and improve quality.

The sanctions relief was achieved in return for time-bound curbs on Tehran’s nuclear work under a landmark deal with P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), which went into effect on July 16.

Rouhani’s allies made huge gains in parliamentary elections on Friday that should give the president more scope to push through ambitious plans to modernize Iran’s economy.

The large but outdated car sector is one of the most attractive industries to foreign investors who have flocked to Tehran since the sanctions were removed.

France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen signed a joint venture agreement with Iran’s largest carmaker Iran Khodro in January. The two companies had a strong relationship that was suspended in 2012 due to sanctions.

“We will develop partnership with foreign companies so our manufacturers have a presence in world markets,” Rouhani concluded.

– financialtribune