TEHRAN – Tehran’s first international e-banking conference will be held in early May next year, ISNA reported on Tuesday.

The two-day event will focus on the latest developments in the electronic inter-bank connections in Iran and other countries. It will include workshops, honoring ceremonies and an exhibition of e-banking equipments.

Articles that will be presented in the conference are to give new insights to subjects as various as e-banking management, e-banking payment services, legal bases for the e-banking system, and the process of trade-off in e-banking. For more information, visit www.ebanking-conf.ir.

TME registers 11,175 tons of trade on Tuesday

TEHRAN – On Tuesday, some 11,175 tons of steel, at Tehran Metals Exchange (TME).

The trade’s value totaled Rls.91.92 billion. Daily supply vs. demand was recorded at 19,215 tons for 29,270 tons. Steel and aluminum transactions comprised 10,600 tons and 520 tons of Tuesday’s trade, respectively at Rls.58.75 billion and Rls.13.65 billion.

Meanwhile, the daily trade registered 30 tons of molybdenum sulfur for Rls.6.54 billion. These three groups, respectively, accounted for 94.85%, 4.66% and 0.27% of the total volume of transactions on Tuesday.

Southern Railway stevedores 4.5m tons of goods in 6 months

AHVAZ, Khuzestan Prov. – Over 4.5 million tons of goods was transported by the Southern Railway in the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-September 22, 2006), general director of the railway, which connects Mashhad in northeastern Iran to this southern provincial capital, said on Tuesday.

This showed three percent increase compared to the same period last year. “The volume, which was mainly consisting of iron ore, fuel oil, cooking oil, corn, alumina, naphtha, and chemical fertilizers, was carried to and from Ahvaz in a total of 626.33 million kilometers,” Khakpur added.

The Southern Railway offers trips for 8000 passengers every day and operates in 5 lines: Ahvaz-Tehran, Ahvaz-Mashhad, Karun-Mahshahr, and Ahvaz-Khorramshahr. These lines carried 1,442,888 passengers in the first six months of the current Iranian year, setting 13% increase compared to the corresponding period last year.

Three JVs with Europeans become operational in E. Azarbaijan

TABRIZ, East Azarbaijan Prov. – Three joint ventures between Iranian companies and investors from Italy, Turkey and Azerbaijan came on stream in this northwestern Iranian province in the past six months.

A total of 82 billion rials (nearly $8.83 million) has been invested in these projects, which created 405 jobs for the locals. Also in the said period, eight new contracts were signed for construction of industrial plants with an overall investment of 109 billion rials (nearly $11.74 million).

Annual rate of forest destruction in western province hits 1000 ha

SHAHR-E KORD, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Prov. – Almost 1000 hectares of forests is destroyed every year in this western Iranian province, general director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources said.

Forests and rangelands cover 18.5% of land in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province, Manuchehr Sardari stated, adding that even some villagers collect wood and burn them into charcoal in their houses in order to sell it in the local markets.

“If any afforestation project is to start here, it should include planting trees in at least 60 hectares of land across the province every year,” he stressed.