Iran, Vietnam keen to increase bilateral trade exchanges

Tehran – Commerce Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari Wednesday evening in Hanoi called for facilitation of trade exchanges between Iran and Vietnam.

He made the remarks in a meeting with President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc held on the sidelines of the 6th session of Iran-Vietnam joint economic and trade commission.

The Iranian minister said the two countries' private sectors can play key roles in expansion of bilateral trade cooperation between the two sides.

Voicing his country’s readiness to further promote economic and trade relations with Iran, the Vietnamese official called for making use of Iran as a transit route for export of Vietnamese goods to the regional markets.

Exchange of delegations to study marketing and investment potentials in both countries was also stressed by the two officials.
Source : IRNA

Gambia, Iran’s good trade partner: Minister

Tehran, Dec 1, IRNA – The minister of cooperatives said Tuesday that the African country of Gambia is a good trade partner for Iran.

Mohammad Abbasi, head of the Iran-Gambia Joint Commission, made the remarks while talking to IRNA.

He said Gambia is a state playing an effective role in both international and African arenas.

Abbasi added the existing economic potentials in Banjul have led Tehran to plan joint ventures with the African state.

The cooperatives minister also said the two countries are capable of expanding bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture and fisheries.

WTO urged to speed up key trade negotiations

GENEVA: European businesses, growing frustrated at slow progress in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round, yesterday called for the WTO to speed up negotiations.

The WTO is holding a ministerial conference from tomorrow until Wednesday, but negotiations on Doha, launched eight years ago to open markets and help developing countries grow through trade, are off the agenda.

Instead ministers will review the WTO's work and its contribution to economic recovery and tackling problems such as climate change. Doha is likely to be discussed on the sidelines.

Economists argue about precise benefits of a Doha deal but political leaders and the WTO believe it would boost business confidence by removing uncertainty from the world economy.

"At some point of time all WTO members will have to make up their minds on the conclusion of the round," said Carsten Dannoehl, senior adviser for international relations at BusinessEurope, the EU business lobby.

BusinessEurope is expected to issue a call during the conference for the WTO's 153 members to focus on concluding a Doha deal, which would cut industrial and agricultural tariffs, slash farm subsidies and open up trade in services.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy says a Doha agreement is 80 per cent complete. But mindful of previous WTO conferences that broke up in acrimony, he wants to avoid submitting an incomplete proposal to ministers.

Political leaders have called on WTO members to reach a Doha agreement in 2010, but Lamy has said negotiations will have to speed up to meet that new deadline.

Members will take stock and decide whether 2010 is realistic early next year.

Poverty action group Oxfam said completing the Doha round would not solve all development challenges but would at least remove some of the worst trade distortions.

"The very fact that the Doha round is not even on the agenda of this week's Ministerial shows that the round is moribund," said Oxfam International representative Celine Charveriat.

Meanwhile, more than 3,000 demonstrators protested in Geneva on Saturday at WTO policies that they say promote poverty, but the march was called off after some 200 protesters rampaged through the city centre smashing windows and setting fire to cars.

Source : Gulf Daily News

Yemeni-Indonesian joint committee commences meetings

Sana'a (ANTARA News/Saba) - Yemeni- Indonesian Joint Committee started its second round`s meetings here on Tuesday.

The meetings of the round are co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Hisham Sharaf and Indonesian Ambassador in Yemen Nour al-Aulia`a.

In the meeting, Sharaf highlighted historical relations between Yemen and Indonesia, indicating wide horizons for improving them in the framework of realizing joint interests. He took into consideration economic and trade privileges.

He noted importance of President Ali Abdullah Saleh`s visit to Indonesia because it has formed improved step for activating relations between the two countries and enhancing suitable mechanisms for utilizing existing possibilities in the two countries.

For his part, the Indonesian ambassador affirmed his country`s keenness on improving relations with Yemen, taking into consideration that Indonesia there is a number of Yemeni migrants who had com to the country in the thirteen century for spreading Islam.

The second round discusses during two-day meetings evaluation of cooperation between the two parts in fields of economy, trade, higher education, investment and sports and youth.

A number treaties and protocols are expected to be signed during the round.

German Foreign Minister Presses Iran to Accept US Offer on Talks

Germany's foreign minister Friday warned Iran against rebuffing US President Obama's offer to hold direct talks as diplomats from six nations trying to push Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions meet next week in Berlin.

Speaking in the German parliament on Friday, Jan 20, Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged Iran not to snub new US President Barack Obama's offer to open direct talks with Tehran on the country's controversial nuclear program, saying diplomacy was the only way to solve the problem.

"It is good that Obama extended his hand and showed willingness to hold direct talks with Iran," the German foreign minister said. "That's why I'm calling on the Iranians to be sensible and be open to the US offer."
It should be done for the people in Iran who "are suffering from the isolation and confrontation resulting from the policies of Tehran and many are also going hungry," Steinmeier added.

Germany to scale back trade with Iran

His comments came as a German official confirmed on Friday that senior diplomats from six world powers trying to persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear program would meet in Berlin next week.

German foreign ministry official Jens Ploetner said that diplomats from the UN Security Council's permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany will meet on Wednesday near the western city of Frankfurt.

The six countries have offered Tehran a set of economic and energy incentives in exchange for halting its uranium enrichment program which the West suspects is being used as a cover to develop nuclear weapons.

Germany said this week it had drastically cut its export guarantees for companies trading with Iran.

Berlin's move came amid increased criticism, notably from the United States and Israel, over Germany's growing trade with Iran.

German exports to Iran rose 10.5 percent in the first 11 months of 2008 to reach 3.6 billion euros ($4.6 billion), according to government statistics.

US-Iran talks "long overdue"

Next Wednesday's meeting in Berlin of the six world powers on the Iranian nuclear program will mark the first gathering since Barack Obama took office on January 20.

In one of the biggest foreign policy reversals since taking the reins, Obama this week told Arab broadcaster Al-Arabiya he was willing to talk directly with Iran and map out a new future for US relations with Iran after a three-decade diplomatic freeze.

Washington is also at odds with Iran over its threats to destroy Israel as well as Tehran's support of the militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. The US broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after hard-line students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
At the same time, Obama's administration has refused to rule out any options -- including military strikes -- if Tehran refuses to abandon its uranium enrichment program.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog welcomed Obama's overtures and called for direct talks without conditions.

"It is the way to go. It is long overdue," Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday on the sidelines of the Davos summit. "The security issue will not be resolved without direct dialogue between Iran and the US."

On Thursday, Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peaceful and solely geared toward electricity generation, promised a positive response if the United States makes genuine policy changes.

But earlier this week, Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded Obama apologize for past US "crimes" against the Islamic republic.

Source : Deutsche Welle

Qatar National Bank Q3 profit surges to a record

Qatar National Bank (QNB), Qatar's largest lender by market value, topped analysts' forecasts with a record profit in the third quarter as it diversified its revenue sources.

The lender's third-quarter profit was 1.14 billion riyals ($313 million), up 75.7 percent from the year-earlier period, according to a calculation by newswire Reuters based on the bank's financial data.

Net income in the nine months to Sept 30 rose 62.2 percent to 3 billion riyals compared with 1.85 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, the lender said in a statement, without giving the quarterly figure.

QNB's results for the first nine months of 2008 are a reflection of the sustained growth in activities across business lines in Qatar and abroad," Chief Executive Ali Al-Emadi said in the statement.

Nine-months net interest income and income from financing activities advanced 41.7 percent to 2.05 billion riyals and net fees and commissions increased 38.7 percent to 779.70 million riyals, the bank said.

Net gains from dealing in foreign currencies grew 82.5 percent to 249.90 million riyals, it added.

Analysts' forecasts in a Reuters survey last month for the third-quarter profit ranged from 832.88 million riyals to 967.80 million riyals.

Fuelled by an almost four-fold rise in oil prices since 2002, lenders in the Gulf Arab region have being expanding overseas.

QNB has acquired a 50 percent stake in the Tunisian-Qatari bank and bought a 23.8 percent stake in the United Arab Emirates-based Commercial Bank International

It has a 33.2 percent stake in Jordan's Housing Bank for Trade and Finance .

The bank made 1.86 billion riyals in the first half of this year and 648.90 million riyals in the third-quarter of last year.

The bank's shares lost almost 18 percent this year.

Laws of Partnership in Islam

If two persons make an agreement that they would trade with the goods jointly owned by them, and would divide the profit between themselves, and if they pronounce a formula declaring partnership, in Arabic or in any other language, or express their intention of becoming each other's partner by conduct, the partnership will be valid. If some persons enter into a partnership to share the wages from their labour, like, if a few barbers or labourers agree mutually that they would divide between themselves whatever wages they earn, that partnership is not in order. But if they enter into a mutual compromise that, say, half of what one earns will be given to the other, for a fixed period, in exchange of half of what the other earns, this transaction will be valid, and thus each will be a partner in the wages of the other. If two persons enter into a partnership, on the terms that each of them would purchase the commodity on his own responsibility, and each would be responsible for the payment of its price, but would share the profit which they earn from that commodity, that partnership is not valid. However, if each of them makes the other his agent, authorising that whatever one purchases on credit, the other will be a partner in it, which means that he and his partner are responsible for the debt, then they will be considered partners in that commodity.
The persons who become partners under the rules of partnership, must be adult and sane, and should have intention and free volition for becoming partners. They should also be able to exercise discretion over their properties. Hence, if a feeble-minded person who spends his wealth impudently, enters into partnership, it is not in order, because such a person has no right of disposal over his property. If a condition is laid down in an agreement of partnership, that the partner who manages, or does more work than the other partner, or does more important work than the other, will get larger share of the profit, it is necessary that he should be given his share as agreed upon. Similarly, if it is agreed that the person who does not manage, or does not do more work, or does not do more important work, will get larger share of the profit, that condition is also valid and it must be fulfilled. If it is agreed that the entire profit will be appropriated by one person, or the entire loss will be borne by one of them, that sort of partnership is a matter of Ishkal. If it is not agreed that one of the partners will receive more profit, and if the investment of each of them is equal, they must share profit and loss equally. And if their investment is not equal, they should divide the profit and loss in proportion to their capital. For example, if two persons become partners, and the capital of one of them is double the capital of the other, his share in the profit and loss will also be double of the other, irrespective of whether both of them do equal work, or one of them does less work, or does not work at all. If it is laid down in the agreement of partnership, that both the partners will buy and sell together, or each of them will conclude transactions individually, or only one of them will conclude transactions, or a third party will be hired to conclude the transaction, they should act as agreed upon. If it is not specified as to which of the partners will buy and sell with the capital, neither of them can conclude any transactions with that capital without the permission of the other.
The partner who has been given the right of discretion over the capital, should act according to the agreement of partnership. For example, if it is agreed that he will purchase on credit, or will sell against cash payment, or will purchase the property from a particular place, he should act according to the agreement. However, if no such agreement is made with him, he should conclude transactions in the usual manner, and carry on in such a way that no loss is suffered in the partnership. He should not carry any property belonging to the partnership, with him while he is travelling, if that is unusual. If a partner who transacts business with the capital of the partnership, sells and purchases things contrary to the agreement made with him, or concludes transactions in a manner which is not normal, because of the absence of any agreement, the transaction made by him in both the cases will be correct and valid; but if such a transaction results in a loss, or a part of wealth is squandered, then the partner who has acted against the agreement, or the usual norm, will be responsible for the loss. If a partner who trades with the capital of the partnership, does not go beyond the bounds of his authority, nor is he negligent in looking after the capital, yet unexpectedly the entire capital or a part of it perishes, he is not responsible. If a partner who trades with the capital of the partnership, declares that the capital has perished, and if other partners trust him, they should accept his word. But if they do not trust him, they can complain against him before the Mujtahid, who will decide the case according to Islamic laws.
If all the partners withdraw the permission, given by them to one another, for the right of discretion over their respective shares held in partnership, none of them will be allowed the right of discretion over them. And if one of them withdraws the permission accorded by him, the other partners do not have the right of discretion; but one who has withdrawn his permission can exercise his right of discretion over the property of the partnership. If one of the partners demands that the capital invested in the partnership should be divided, others should accept his demand even if the period fixed for the partnership may not have expired yet, except when the division of the capital entails considerable loss to the partners. If one of the partners dies, or becomes insane, or unconscious, other partners cannot continue to exercise right of discretion over investment held in the partnership. And the same rule applies when one of them becomes feeble-minded that is, spends his property without any consideration.
If a partner purchases a thing on credit for himself, its profit and loss belongs to him. However, if he purchases it for partnership, and if the agreement allows credit dealings, its profit and loss belongs to both of them. If the partners conclude a transaction with a joint capital investment, and it transpires later that the partnership was invalid, if the validity of the transaction was not dependent on mutual consent, meaning that, if they had known that the partnership was not valid, they would have still been agreeable to having the right of discretion over the property or stock of each other, the transaction will be considered valid, and whatever is gained or lost from the transaction will be shared by them. But if the partners would not have been disposed to agree to exercise discretion over each others' stock or property had they known that the partnership was not valid, yet they approve the particular transaction, it will be valid - and if they do not, it will be invalid. And in either case, if any partner has worked for the partnership without the previous intention to work gratis, he can collect the wages for his services at the usual rate, considering the percentage of other partners. But if the usual wage is more than his share of dividend, after having agreed to the validity of the transaction, he should take the dividend only.