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Kashan Governor Hamidreza Momenian made the remarks on the sidelines of French cultural week in Kashan.

Momenian said that industrial interactions between Iran and France have increased following the implementation of the nuclear agreement known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He added the two countries attach great importance to expansion of mutual tourism cooperation.

Touching upon the rich cultural commonalities between Iran and France, he described the cultural week as a good opportunity to expand mutual relations.

Meanwhile, French Ambassador to Iran François Senemaud said on Friday that his country's automakers are determined to cooperate with their Iranian counterparts.

Senemaud further noted that Renault is currently engaged in signing a deal with the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) while Peugeot and Citroën have make big investments with Iranian partners — Iran Khodro and Saipa.

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It is the first time Belarus has bought Iranian crude oil. The country is looking for alternative crude oil supplies after Russia cut exports to Belarus in the second half of 2016 and is threatening further cuts this year over a row about gas pricing between Minsk and Moscow, four sources told Reuters.

NIOC allocated 600,000 barrels (equals 80,000 tons) to Bel Oil's subsidiary in Poland Bel Oil Polska, according to a new loading schedule for Iranian crude in February, seen by Reuters.

Bel Oil will ship Iranian crude oil to either the Black Sea port of Odessa or the Baltic port of Ventspils for rail transportation to Belarus, with the logistics yet to be agreed, two trading sources told Reuters.

It was not possible to immediately identify a vessel that will carry Iranian barrels for Bel Oil, but traders that it will be loaded around Feb. 20 from Kharg Island.

Belarus imported a total of 560,000 tons of sweet Azerbaijani Light and CPC Blend crude oil via the port of Odessa supplied by Azerbaijan's SOCAR in 2016 to cope with lower Urals supplies, Reuters trade flow system showed. However, these shipments stopped in January as Belarus looked for a sour grade to replace Urals.

Russia cut crude oil exports to Belarus to 18 million tons in 2016 from an initial planned 24 million. In January-March 2017 Russian crude oil exports schedule from Belarus was set at four million tons, which equals 18 million per year, but Russia is threatening to cut crude supplies to 12 million tons per year, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said.

Belarus has complained that a gas price of $132 per 1,000 cubic meters set by Russian gas group Gazprom in the past few months is too high and has been paying less for gas deliveries since the start of last year. Russia has said Belarus owes around $300 million in gas payments.

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The figure, which is equal to around 425,000 barrels per day (bpd), is almost two times higher than that of the same period last year, Reuters said in a report.

This development takes market share away from Iran's key rival, Saudi Arabia, added the report.

South Korea's imports of crude oil from Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia dropped by 17.3 percent to 785,084 bpd in January compared to the figure for December 2016, as the Saudis are complying with a supply-cut deal agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

South Korea's total crude oil imports from all oil-exporting nations increased by 14 percent annually to 2.93 million bpd in January, added the report quoting preliminary figures released by South Korea's customs office.

However, the total January imports were 6.3 percent lower than the imports for December 2016, it said.

Platts energy news service in a report last week announced that Iran's exports in January rose by three percent.  It added that Iran was the only Middle Eastern producer to see

exports rise last month, as others, like Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, saw a fall in loadings, in line with agreed OPEC-led output cuts by crude producers.

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 Roham Qassemi said, "The $300-million FPSO unit was built in Singapore and will be deployed above the South Pars' oil layer in the near future."

FPSO is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and processing of hydrocarbons, and for the storage of oil. The vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced by itself or from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or, less frequently, transported through a pipeline.

The vessel is now en route to its operational location in the giant energy hub, he added, noting that several wells have been drilled in the oil layer of South Pars to extract crude oil from the shared field.

The South Pars, whose development has been divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf straddling the maritime border between Iran and Qatar.

The Iranian section of the field is estimated to contain 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensates in place.

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The deal with Renault is in the final stages.

“They (Renault officials) have promised that it (the deal) would be signed by the (Iranian) year’s end,” the minister noted.

Iranian automaker Saipa has been holding talks with Renault for months on a major business contract. According to Iran’s economy minister, the terms of the deal would be similar to a contract signed between Peugeot and Iran Khodro.

In January 2016, Iran Khodro, the Middle East’s biggest carmaker, and French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen signed an agreement over a joint-venture to produce cars, worth 5€00 million ($545 million).

According to the deal, Peugeot 2008 crossover, 208 supermini and 301 compact cars will be manufactured inside Iran under the 50-50 joint venture.

Resumption of cooperation between Iranian and French automobile companies follow the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) that took effect in January 2016.

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Gholamali Kamyab, Central Bank of Iran’s Vice Governor for Foreign Exchange Affairs, made the remarks here in a trade meeting with the visiting Swedish economic delegation.

In the meeting, Kamyab referred to the confidence-building measures between the banks and business community as an important issue for those who want to be active in Iran's economy.

He then said the meeting between the Iranian and the Swedish delegations will prepare the ground for further bilateral economic and banking relations.

The CBI official added the exchange of trade delegations between Iran and other countries aims to make the bilateral ties secure.

He described Iran as a country with many investment opportunities, adding Iran is among the 20 large world economies and also among the largest in the Middle East region.

About the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, Kamyab said the international agreement created a positive atmosphere in Iran for foreign companies.

Iran by using Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act (FIPPA) assures its trade partners of investment in the country, Kamyab noted.

Commenting on improvement of Iran’s economic ranking in the world, Kamyab said that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has upgraded Iran's rating which is an indication of improvement of the economic conditions in the country.

Iran, as he said, is now a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in order to be active in the markets of the member states.

Also, he added, Iran has taken chairmanship of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) for the year 2017.

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Two memorandums of understanding have been signed in Tehran in the presence of the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and the Swedish Minister for EU Affairs and Trade Ann Linde, by Henrik Henriksson, president and CEO of Scania, Hamid Akbari-Rad, member of the board of Scania’s Iranian partner, Oghab Afshan, the governor of Isfahan and managing director of Shahr-e Atiyeh.

There is a clear need to expand and renew public bus systems in Iran. With the two memorandums of understanding, Isfahan and four other leading Iranian cities will obtain sustainable public transport solutions.

Scania and Oghab Afshan will supply Isfahan with 350 buses and in the frame agreement with Shahr-e Atiyeh, up to 1,000 buses will be financed.

In cooperation with Iranian authorities, Scania has developed solutions for the reduction of air pollution that ensure that local emissions are kept to a minimum with the current fuel quality.

The new buses for Isfahan and Mashhad are equipped with engine technology that offers the lowest emissions levels in the country.

Iran is one of Scania’s top ten bus markets globally. Privately owned Oghab Afshan has been Scania’s bus partner and distributor in Iran since the year 2000. The company employs close to 1,100 persons in its Scania operations, including 860 in the bus factory.

"Together with our partners, we have a strong presence in Iran with comprehensive industrial operations and an extensive service network," said Scania's President and CEO Henrik Henriksson.

“We look forward to developing this market even further to provide the best services and sustainable transport solutions to our customers."

Iran continues to be an important market for Scania. Its two established and privately-owned distributors, Oghab Afsahan and Mammut Diesel (for trucks) have a solid presence

in the country.

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"An Airbus plane was delivered to Iran and we will send other planes soon," Sénémaud said on Sunday.

He also expressed the hope that relations between Tehran and Paris would further expand.

On January 12, the first Airbus A321 landed at Tehran Mehrabad Airport and joined the Iranian air fleet.

The aircraft was officially delivered to Iran Air by Airbus in a ceremony held in Toulouse.

Airbus Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier announced that with the delivery of the aircraft, cooperation between Iran Air and Airbus officially started, and said, "We hope with delivery of the aircraft, expansion of economic cooperation with Iran will continue more rapidly."

Iran Air officials said the plane will be used for domestic flights.

Iranian Road and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi declared earlier this month that two other Airbus passenger planes will join Iran Air, the country's national flag carrier, within the next four weeks.

"We have good news that two more passenger planes will join Iran Air's passenger plane fleet," Akhoundi said.

Akhoundi, meantime, said that his ministry is planning to improve the conditions of the country's railway and maritime transportation.

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Governors and representatives of Hungarian banks and Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Sina Bank, Shahr Bank and Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) met in Budapest to look into ways to launch banking ties between the two countries.

Iran's Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia, who attended the meeting, said that reaching desirable economic turnover is subject to banking relations between the two countries.

"It has been agreed that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for regulatory cooperation be signed between central banks of the two sides," he continued.

Tayebnia is in the Hungarian capital to take part at the first Iran-Hungary Joint Economic Commission meeting.

The commission aims to develop cooperation between Iran and Hungary in different fields as well as to boost bilateral economic ties.

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