* Jahangiri for Specifying Justifiable Ceiling for Steel Exports
Jahangiri told the session that export of certain steel products by Iran to Europe in recent years has created many problems for National Iranian Steel Company (NISC).
He cited a complaint lodged by European and Italian steel production companies against the NISC as an example.
Jahangiri called on Marzano to make the European Commission adopt a strategy so that Iranian steel production companies will continue exports to Europe at a justifiable ceiling.
He said Europe remains the first major partner of Iran in development of steel industries and even import of steel products.
The Iranian minister added that Iran has mostly turned to Italian companies to make joint investments in the steel sector.
He appreciated the Italian government for supporting reduction of risk point from six to four in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and settlement of minor issues existing since years ago.
The minister said the Fifth Tehran-Rome Joint Economic Cooperation session aims to work out main framework for economic cooperation and remove possible obstacles.
He said numerous discussions have so far been held on Iranian and Italian small and medium-sized industries. He called for exploration of ways and means of materializing the outcome of the talks.
Jahangiri said Iranian and Italian companies have the potential to contribute to economic reconstruction of Afghanistan. He said a good ground exists for active presence of Iranian and Italian economic institutions in Afghanistan.
He stressed exploration of possible ways and means to diversity non-oil commodities exports from Iran to Italy. He called for direct investment in Iran by Italian companies.
He said removal of non-tariff trade barriers and allocation of loans and credits by Iranian banking system would be among the measures that would encourage domestic and foreign investment.
Marzano said for his part that Italy has for long been closely following developments in Iran. He said major Italian institutions have for decades been active in Iran and have remained in the country even under the most difficult circumstances.
He said the year 2001, highlighted by deplorable September 11 incident, was a difficult year for his country whose economic growth stood at two percent. He said the figure was a little bit more than that for European states, Germany in particular.
He predicted that global economy will gradually recover in the first half of 2002 and the first traces of the recovery will be evident firstly in the U.S. and then in other countries.
The Italian minister expressed hope that through adoption of new economic policies by Italian government the universe will witness an upward trend in economic activities this year.
He expressed satisfaction with economic growth in Iran and adoption of new taxation policies in the year. He hoped that the law on support for foreign investment will soon be ratified.
He said Italian government uses necessary levers in the European Union to push forward economic cooperation between the EU and Iran and said the Italian government has for a long time been making efforts to help Iran get admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
He added that Italian companies are greatly interested in investment in Iran. He expressed hope that necessary measures would be adopted for attraction of foreign investment by Iran.
Marzano said low wages, high expertise, low energy cost and basic materials as well as Iran's geographic condition are among the advantages of investment in Iran.
He said Italian company directors in Iran are complaining about the taxes levied on their salaries and said they are willing to pay taxes estimated on the basis of reliable data.
The Italian envoy said bureaucracy in Iran is a phenomenon similar to that in other countries -- a factor that has caused a decline in foreign investment.
Italian industries and institutions are for full participation in all fields, especially fisheries, telecommunications, energy and oil, in Iran, he pointed out.