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Japan to explore ways of normalizing economic ties with Iran
After the nuclear deal, the Iranian capital has turned into the most visited destination of foreign delegations that have a purpose to explore opportunities to enter the vast Iranian market.
Following European countries, now Asian countries are sending their representatives to Iran to take greater benefits after lifting sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Japan is sending a senior trade and industry official to Iran along with executives from the oil, gas, and other industries after a landmark agreement reached on the country's disputed nuclear program.
Daishiro Yamagiwa, vice minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, will visit Tehran to meet top government officials on August 8 and 9, according to an emailed statement by the ministry on August 7, Reuters reported.
Yamagiwa will convey Japan's strong desire to quickly normalize economic relations once sanctions are lifted, according to the report.
Japan was one of 11 nations exempted from sanctions on countries that buy oil from Iran. However, Japan’s oil imports from Iran were slashed in line with the country’s support for the international community over Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Japan's foreign policy toward Iran has been driven by its thirst for stable and reliable energy supplies, with Iran continuing to be Japan's third-largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the Wharton School of Business in the U.S.
The U.S. government admitted that energy-poor countries like Japan have suffered more from the sanctions on Iran.
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice has recently said that with U.S.-led sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, countries like India and Japan have paid an economic price for sanctions against the Islamic Republic and they may no longer feel obliged to do so if the pact is scuttled by Congress.
Japan is also considering further cooperation with Iran in other sectors. Japan and Iran have recently discussed the potential and prospect for cooperation in Iran’s automobile industry.
In a symposium recently held in Japan, representatives from several Japanese automotive companies and Iranian business groups studied ways to expand cooperation and share technologies between the automotive sectors of the two countries.
Trade between the two countries has dipped significantly in recent years, though supplies of vehicles like Mitsubishi, Honda, and Toyota continued even during the most stringent point of sanctions.
The trade balance between the two countries has historically been in favor of Iran, with cars being the major source of imports from the country. In 2010, Japan cooperated with Iran on several major projects and the annual trade between the two states exceeded $11 billion at its height.
Iran to reveal new oil contracts by year-end
Iran’s petroleum minister has said the government plans to introduce new oil contracts.
Bijan Zangeneh said Iran will introduce its new oil contracts at a London conference planned for December, as the country seeks to boost recovery from its fields with the help of foreign companies, Press TV reported.
Under the new formula, Iran will cede exploration, development, and production operations on an oilfield exclusively to a foreign contractor. Foreign companies will be required to commit to optimal and sustainable production from the field and transfer technology.
World energy giants including Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total, BP, and Italy’s Eni have voiced interest in Iran’s new projects.
Some of these companies have already visited the country to hold discussions with Iranian officials on a return to the Iranian market.
Energy officials have said Iran has identified nearly 50 oil and gas projects worth $185 billion up for grabs.
Zangeneh said the new contracts with foreign companies will be signed under the Integrated Petroleum Contract framework.
IPC is replacing the buyback deals that required the host government to pay the contractor an agreed price for all volumes of hydrocarbons it produced.
Under the IPC, the National Iranian Oil Company will set up joint ventures for crude oil and gas production with international companies, which will be paid with a share of the output.
Tehran has signed a package of contracts to deliver its oil in 2015, Iran’s Petroleum Ministry said a day after the country struck a deal with six world powers over its nuclear program.
NIOC said it would increase oil extraction in all of its fields for a total of 4 million barrels per day in 2015 if there is “sufficient market demand.” That is the level of crude production that the country had reached before the imposition of Western sanctions.
"We want to reach our pre-sanctions capacity. We tested a production increase in the main oilfields last year," Roknoldin Javadi, NIOC managing director told Iran's Shargh newspaper.
The country has about 30 million barrels of crude in storage, which is estimated to be some of the largest reserves in the world. Around 200,000 barrels of crude exports per day is expected from Tehran in the short-term. This will add to a surplus of about 2.6 million barrels per day.
Lawlessness in Armenia shakes country
Frequent violation of the principles of democracy and elementary human rights has reached its peak following the attacks on free speech in Armenia that resulted in a serious scandal in the Post Soviet country.
Attacks on an independent newspaper in an effort to silence a journalist called into question the state of free speech in the country.
Local media directly blamed President Serzh Sargsyan in the closure of the Armenian newspaper “Third Force Plus” after the paper published a story about the violation of rights of ordinary people.
Armenian journalist Vagram Aradjanyan’s article “There is no budget money for ordinary citizens” angered the Armenian authorities. A true story that was finally written in a realistic manner caused the outrage of the Armenian government. The author of the article was sentenced to a year in prison with a two-year probation period.
This article resonated in the Armenian Diaspora as well, but the journalist felt the bitter price of truth.
The court considered the article slander against the authorities, saying that the citizens mentioned in the article do not exist. An outright lie angered farmers who then sought to be witnesses in court. However, nobody let them speak.
The crimes of the Armenian authorities has been condemned by hundreds of media and human rights organizations around the world, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (USA), Reporters Without Borders (France), Amnesty International (UK), the Russian Union of Journalists and many other organizations. Vahram Aghajanian has been declared a "prisoner of conscience” in Europe.
Armenia is in a deplorable state for a long time and its economy feels collapse. After the country occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, it almost “cut” itself from all the bonds with its neighbors due to its aggressive external policy. Moreover, Turkey unequivocally refuses to open its borders with Armenia until the latter withdraws from Azerbaijan's occupied lands. Ankara has put Armenian troop's withdrawal from at least one Azerbaijani district as a condition to revive Turkish-Armenian protocols.
Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory became a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation.
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