AHVAZ, Khuzestan Prov. – Some 730,000 tons of goods, valued at $241 million, was exported from the southern Iranian port city of Khorramshahr during the past Iranian year (ended March 20), IRNA reported Sunday.

Most of the volume (200 million dollars) was exported to Iraq, the report added, pointing to Kuwait and the UAE as the two other main destinations for the goods exported through Khorramshahr customs office.

Iran, UK sign memo to save Caspian seals

RASHT, Gilan Prov. -- A memorandum of understanding was signed here Sunday by the University of Gilan, the Iranian Fisheries Organization, Gilan Department of the Environment, and a UK-based institute to preserve the Caspian Sea seals, better known as phoca caspica.

According to the agreement, all of these organizations, along with some regional and international environmental institutes, will join hands in efforts to save the valuable species. Phoca caspica is the smallest of the existing varieties of seal. It is the only mammal living in the Caspian Sea. It lives throughout the sea, occasionally going into deltas of the rivers of Volga and Ural. High numbers of these seals can be observed during the October-November period on shell-composed islands in the eastern part of the northern Caspian and on sandy spits of the southern Caspian. In 1993 the Caspian seal was classified as a vulnerable species and was included into the Red List of MUPN (International Union for Protection of Nature).

E. Azarbaijan exports up 13%

TABRIZ, East Azarbaijan Prov. – More than 609,000 tons of goods, valued at over $480 million, was exported from this northwestern province in the past Iranian year (ended March 20).

This showed a 13% increase compared to the previous year’s figure. Petrochemicals, industrial commodities, handicraft and medicinal plants were exported to Afghanistan, Armenia, China, Venezuela, Syria, Iraq, Turkey and the UAE. A total 706,000 tons of goods, valued at $1.63 billion, were transited through the border customs offices of East Azarbaijan in the said period (March 2006-March 2007).

TSE up 6.53 pts

TEHRAN – The main index (TEPIX) of the Tehran Stock Exchange rose 6.53 points to 9,842.94 on Sunday, ILNA reported.

More than 40.41 million shares were exchanged for 105.53 billion rials ($11.47 million) in the daily trade. The main board index was up 10.96 points to 9,819.62 and the industrial index soared 8.9 points to 7,766.09, while the secondary board index dropped 2.72 points to 9,152.54. The financial intermediation index also fell 91.9 points to 20,899.24.