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

Cultivated coral reefs now also exported

Denpasar - The coral reefs cultivated by coastal fishermen in Serangan village, Denpasar, have found their way to the export market.

"We have been applying the technique of transplantation in coral reef cultivation and the result is that the products are now exported to Europe," Chairman of the Association of Serangan Fishermen Wayan Patut said here Thursday.

He also said that trading coral reefs is actually against the law, as it harms natural conservation.

However, by applying the transplantation technique in coral reef cultivation, the farmers produced the reefs in such a way that they could be locally marketed and even exported.

"We have been cultivating coral reefs in this way for many years including for natural conservation, in the Serangan waters," one of the farmers said.

"Besides saving nature, the technique also has its economic value, so that the farmers
became enthusiastic in both cultivating and rehabilitating coral reefs," he added.

He said he could tell the difference between observed coral reefs from the saleable cultivated ones, by monitoring the reefs and rehabilitating them.

"We have succeeded in cultivating coral reefs of different colors like brown, green, yellow, and other shades," he added.

He said the coral reefs had already been exported to various countries, like the United States, and are also marketed at local markets. Coral reefs are normally used to decorate sea water and fresh water aquariums.
Source : Antara News

Bin Laden's daughter free to leave says Iran

TEHRAN: Osama bin Laden's daughter who has taken refuge at the Saudi mission in Tehran is free to leave Iran once her identity is confirmed, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying yesterday.

"A while ago the Saudi embassy here said one of bin Laden's daughters is in the compound, so the foreign ministry told the embassy that based on international conventions if her identity is confirmed she can leave Iran with passage documents," ISNA quoted Mottaki as telling state television.

"We were not able to confirm her identity but the embassy says she is" the daughter of bin Laden, he added.

A Saudi newspaper quoted Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of the Al Qaeda chief, that one of his siblings, Iman, 17, had recently sought asylum at the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Fuad Qassas, the Saudi charge d'affaires at the kingdom's embassy in Tehran, confirmed Iman was staying there, according to the newspaper, which said she has been seeking permission to leave Iran, so far without success.

Omar also said that five other siblings plus one of his father's wives who had been missing since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan had been traced to Tehran, where they are living under house arrest.

Omar, who lives in Qatar, said he only learnt his family members were still alive after receiving a call last month from his brother Uthman, who had been secretly given access to a mobile phone by a young Iranian.

British newspaper The Times reported 11 of bin Laden's grandchildren were also living in the high-security compound outside Tehran.

The group fled Afghanistan just before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US and walked to the Iranian border, where they were detained and taken to the walled compound by guards.

His relatives are said to be living as normal a life as possible, cooking meals, watching television and reading, but they are allowed out on shopping trips only rarely.

The Times said Iman escaped from the compound during one such trip last month and fled to the Saudi embassy.

Source : Gulf Daily News