India and Iran oil payment impasse still unresolved

Reuters - The oil trade settlement impasse between Iran and India remained unresolved on Friday, with Iran reportedly saying it had been settled but several Indian sources saying that talks would continue.

Central bank officials from Iran and India met in Mumbai on Friday in an effort to keep their $12 billion in oil trade running, and forcing New Delhi to strike a delicate balance between its energy needs and its global diplomatic interests.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not comment other than to say that it had met with Iranian counterparts at a technical level to discuss ways to facilitate future transactions.

But Iran’s deputy oil minister, Ahmad Khaledi, was quoted as saying by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency: "By changing the currency for oil transaction between Iran and India the problem was solved."

Several Indian sources said work towards a solution was continuing.

For a graphic on suppliers to India’s Essar Oil. Continued…

Iran agrees to train jobless Afghans

Press TV--Iran and Afghanistan have reached an agreement that allows Tehran to hold technical training courses in the war-torn country to help unemployed Afghans fight drug trafficking and addiction.

Iranian Minister of Labor Abdul Reza Sheikholeslami and Afghan Minister of Counternarcotics Ahmad Moqbel Zarar discussed the details of the agreement during a meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday, IRNA reported.

Sheikholeslami pointed out that the high unemployment rates is one of the main reasons contributing to the youth resorting to drug addiction and trafficking.

The Iranian official noted that the two neighboring nations could fight the addiction epidemic and narcotics trafficking by creating more jobs.
Sheikholeslami further expressed Iran’s readiness to help the Afghan government hold professional training courses in order to train unemployed Afghans.

Zarar, for his part, said that Afghanistan needs the Islamic Republic’s support in rehabilitating its addicts and assisting them with finding employment and kicking the habit.
The two officials stressed the necessity of expanding collaborations in the anti-drug campaign.
Last month, the two governments also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the improvement and consolidation of Tehran-Kabul cooperation in the field of labor and social affairs.

Iranian technicians constructed Afghanistan’s first rehabilitation center with a $1 million dollar investment within a 30-month period, Sheikholeslami said.

The rehabilitation center has the capacity to provide services to more than 100 people per day.
In the center, Afghan people can receive services of audiometry, hydrotherapy, orthopedics, optometry, general medicine, medical consultation, community-based rehabilitation, speech therapy and occupational therapy.
In reference to Iran’s initiative to legalize the presence of Afghan immigrants in Iran, the Iranian minister reiterated that the “legalization of the presence of almost three million Afghan immigrants in Iran is in the interest of both Iranian and Afghan governments and nations.”
He further argued that the move would enable the Afghan government to better plan for the country’s reconstruction.

Afghanistan accounts for 90 percent of the world’s opium and heroin production, the UN drug monitoring body said in its 2010 report.
Drug production has jumped 40 folds in Afghanistan since the US-led occupation of the country began in 200, leading to the presence of 150,000 foreign troops in the war-torn nation.

Pakistani senate chairman to visit Iran

Tehran Times -- Chairman of the Pakistan Senate Farooq Naek will travel to Iran on January 26 to hold talks with Iranian officials

Naek’s visit is centered on expanding bilateral parliamentary ties between the two countries. 
 The senator will have meetings with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, and Interim Foreign Minter Ali-Akbar Salehi during his three-day stay in the Islamic Republic.
 Twelve Pakistani senators representing different committees, including foreign policy committee, and other Pakistani figures from different parties will accompany Naek on his trip.

Salhi’s trip to Islamabad
 Meanwhile, Mehr news agency reported that the Interim Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi will travel to Pakistan on January 25 to attend the 18th Iran-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission meeting.The meeting will be held in Islamabad on January 25 and 26.Pakistan’s economy minister will attend the meeting as the head of the Pakistani side