TEHRAN -- The food safety committee of the municipality of Kuwait City, capital of the Persian Gulf state of Kuwait, has sought the resumption of seafood import from Iran, India and Pakistan, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The committee has planned to send its proposal to the Kuwaiti ministry of commerce and industry to lift the ban – that was imposed on seafood import from these three countries three months ago – for the next six months. However, the proposal is also to include the need for tight health control.

It is noteworthy that Iran is the only country in the Middle East allowed to export seafood to the EU.

Charmahal-Bakhtiari identifies 833 of its plant species

SHAHR-E-KORD, Charmahal-Bakhtiari Prov. -- Some 833 plant species have so far been picked out in the rangelands of this southwestern Iranian province. “These include 35 species of which 22 are classified under the Astragalus genus [a large genus of about 2,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae],” an official with the provincial natural resources department said Wednesday.

Ranges cover an area of over one million hectares across Charmahal-Bakhtiari Province, Manuchehr Sardari stated, noting this accounts for about 66% of the entire province area. However, the size of the province’s rangeland coverage has dramatically shrunk as a result of excessive cattle grazing and also due to damages done to it by the timber smugglers.

PSEZ exports over $2.6b of goods since March 21

ASSALUYEH, Bushehr Prov. -- Some 5.66 million tons of goods, valued at 2.65 billion dollars, has been exported from Pars Special Energy Zone since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2006).

This showed 48% increase in terms of weight compared to the same period last year. Also in the said period, the PSEZ Customs registered import of 146,950 tons of goods for $944.13 million, corroborating 37% increase compared to the corresponding period last year.

Shahrvand sets up 14th store at Ariashahr subway station

TEHRAN – Shahrvand Company, the owner of a set of chain stores across the capital city Tehran, opened its 14th store at the Ariashahr subway station on Wednesday.

Shahrvand shops open at 7a.m. and close at 10p.m.

Semnan 8-month exports up 43%

SEMNAN -- Some 37,971 tons of goods, valued at $26.1 million dollars, was exported from this north-central Iranian province during the first eight months of the current Iranian year (March 21-November 21).

This showed 43% increase in weight compared to the same period last year. Semnan exported ceramic tiles, detergents, vegetable oil, steel pipes, phosphate fertilizers, wool and fleece and candies to Italy, Germany, China, the UAE, Russia, Iraq, Croatia, Algeria and Central Asia.

In the same period, Semnan Customs imported 2,248 tons of goods, including industrial machinery, chemicals and cotton, valued at $4.7 million, from Italy, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and China.