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Officials said they plan to reward Japan for its support during the years of sanctions with priority in deals and investment.

Ships loaded at Kharg Island currently have to travel to the United Arab Emirates to refuel, but authorities have decided to upgrade the facility to let tankers refuel and load simultaneously, Kyodo wrote.

"We are ready to refuel Japanese oil tankers as the first priority in Kharg during loading. This can remove the risk of the refueling of fully loaded tankers in the UAE, on top of frugality in time and reducing extra expenses, including parking," said Gholamhossein Gerami, operations and export manager at Kharg oil terminal.

Iran's oil terminals and oilfields can be spotted by their high towers emitting orange flames from burned natural gas — a byproduct of the extraction of oil. Iran hopes in future to divert the gas to other purposes, using Japanese technology.

"Natural gas coming from oilfields can be refined and sold as a new petrochemical product — an area for Japanese investors to have more participation in Iran's oil fields," Germai said.

Kharg has six major facilities, including the oil and petrochemical refinery, and its population of 15,000 has helped make it the largest oil terminal in Persian Gulf.

The terminal became operational in the early 1960s and now handles more than 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports.

Pirooz Mousavi, who heads the nation's oil terminals, said Iran has invested more than $1.5 billion over the past decade in upgrades to the Kharg oil terminal and, after sanctions were lifted, it hit its record of loading 8 million barrels of crude oil into nine tankers in less than 48 hours at Kharg.

Now that sanctions have been lifted, Iran hopes to increase crude oil production and to export more than 2.5 million barrels per day.

"Japanese companies will have a firm position in the future of oil business with Iran and nothing can make a gap between Iran and Japan," Mousavi said.

Kharg oil terminal has two main docks — one in the east for small ships and tankers and one in the west, suitable for supertankers including the largest types.

Oil terminal officials say Japanese supertankers always berth at the west dock and, during the time of sanctions, Japan was the only country to use this dock to transfer oil with its own tankers.

"We never forget our friends from the time of sanctions," Mousavi said. "As we expect the increase in Japan for Iran's crude oil we feel more commitment to be a better host for Japan. Iran is interested in having Japan as the first priority for investing in oil terminals rather than others."

He added that Japan has a lot to offer in a wide range of areas.

"Iran is seeking Japan's experience and high technology to protect the sea environment and both countries can start the cooperation by investing in refining oil sludge," he said.

Oil terminal figures show that China, India and Japan are now the top three buyers of Iran's crude oil, several months after sanctions were lifted. Under sanctions, Japan was in fourth place after South Korea.

Iran plans to present various projects for its energy sector in the near future in a bid to lure investment from foreign companies. However, several factors may weigh on investment decisions.

A multibillion-yen petrochemical project by Iran-Japan Petrochemical Co. came to an end in 1991 without ever getting off the ground due to the prolonged Iran-Iraq war.

The Japanese government is ready for a new approach. It lifted sanctions on Iran in January and signed a bilateral investment pact in February in a bid to help Japanese companies do business there amid intensifying competition for access to Iran.

Also in February, the government-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance pledged a credit line of up to $10 billion.

"Iran is grateful to Japan for the allocation of the $10 billion credit line and we are sure that this action by Japan will lead to the blossoming of the two countries' financial ties," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.

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The deal, which was signed on the sidelines of 'Iran Connect 2016' conference in Tehran, envisages Iran's direct connection to the world's leading Internet operators, Fars News Agency reported.

The TIC also signed an agreement with Telecom Italia Sparkle to set up a Point of Presence (PoP) in Tehran.

A PoP is an access point from one place to the rest of the internet. A PoP necessarily has a unique Internet protocol (IP) address.

The agreement was signed by Alessandro Talotta, the Telecom Italia Sparkle CEO and Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran's deputy ICT minister, on the sidelines of 'Iran Connect 2016' conference.

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Crispr-Cas9 replaces harmful DNA with new code that kills cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones unharmed, BBC wrote.

Mice with the reprogrammed code developed tumors that were much smaller than cancers in mice that did not get this treatment.

Experts call the study, in Nature Methods, promising but say it is unclear yet whether the technique would work in humans.

Dr. Weiren Huang, from the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, in China, and colleagues used Crispr-Cas9 to reprogram a cell-signaling pathway that would normally feed tumor growth in mice.

Gene editing

Crispr-Cas9 is a DNA cutting and pasting system scientists have borrowed from nature.

Bacteria use it to protect themselves against foreign DNA from viruses.

Scientists have already begun using it in the lab to target and cut out faulty DNA in human cells that cause illnesses. But it is not without risks.

While effective, the editing process is less than perfect and can cut out too much DNA.

These unwanted or 'off-target' edits could alter other important genes, inadvertently triggering cancer, for example.

Dr. Chris Lord, a gene expert at the Institute of Cancer Research, said: "The key to translating this technique into the clinic will be to see how specific to the tumor cell the Crispr activation will be and how specific, in terms of genes, the Crispr-mediated gene cutting will be.

"These are essentially the same two issues you have with all cancer treatments — how specific for the tumor cell and how specific for the target."

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Bartolone said France supports Iran to execute the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), IRNA reported.

FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001 the purpose expanded to act on terrorism financing. It monitors countries' progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations by ‘peer reviews’ (‘mutual evaluations’) of member countries. The FATF Secretariat is housed at the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Paris is to help Tehran technically for implementation of the FATF by providing Iran with France experiences to this end, Bartolone stressed.

He also called for the boost of economic ties between the two countries, adding that Paris is committed to help complete implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed between Iran and the world six major powers (US, Russia, France, Britain and China plus Germany) in 2015 to end a more than a decade-long nuclear dispute.

Meanwhile, the head of the Central Bank of Iran called for removal of obstacles on the way of improvement of cooperation between Iranian banks with their French counterparts as well as other major banks.

The Italian, Austrian and German banks have developed cooperation with Iran in the post-sanctions era but France banking system is very cautious about improving bilateral relations with its Iranian counterparts, Seif added.

France can help resolve the problem of obstacles on the way of Iran's banking relations with other countries regarding Paris significant place among the European states, Seif stressed.

The FATF issued a statement on June 24, 2016, suspending Iran in the list of its uncooperative countries. This came as the result of numerous actions taken by the Iranian government, parliament and judiciary in the past few years like adopting laws against financing terrorism and other actions which legally bounded Iran to take action to eliminate shortcomings of the body's existing anti-money laundering policies and its decision to seek assistance with implementation.

In its plenary meeting in South Korea, the body took into account Iran’s implementation of an anti-money laundering law and its membership at the Eurasian Group, a FATF-style regional body.

According to the FATF, Iran will remain on the body's blacklist until the full implementation is complete. Moreover, if it fails to demonstrate “sufficient progress” at the end of the yearlong suspension, the restrictions will be re-imposed.

FATF is under the influence of the US.

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Shafei, who will take office as the tenth chairman of ICCIMA, received 198 votes against his rival Masoud Khansari, Mehr News Agency reported.

Out of the 401 members, 397 cast their votes in the election.

Shafei had earlier chaired the seventh round of Iran Chamber of Commerce and has served two terms as vice chairman.

He will replace Mohsen Jalalpour whose resignation was accepted about one month ago.

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Iran's Marine Technology and Knowledge-Based Industries will help establish the country's pavilion, Shana reported.

The leading international maritime trade fair will host more than 50,000 visitors and 2,100 participants from 67 countries and provide a forum for building new relationships and getting acquainted with other participants.

The event, which is to be held from September 6 to 9, will highlight Green Propulsion — alternative, low-emission propulsion technologies such as LNG, methanol, hybrid and dual-fuel — and fuel cell systems, along with big data and digitalization.

It will set the stage for establishing new international business contacts and provide opportunities for participants to become acquainted with Iranian companies and potential customers.

SMM is the maritime sector's most important platform for face-to-face networking and for concluding business deals.

The Iranian delegation, which will include 50 experts from 22 maritime companies and organizations, will attend the fair to take advantage of developing collaborative technological and industrial ties with foreign companies at the fair.

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"We anticipate that these discussions will be concluded within a few months," the spokesman said in a statement sent to Reuters. The statement did not elaborate on what those areas of cooperation could be.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Orange had entered preliminary talks to buy a stake in MCI, as well as on a commercial and technical agreement.

The company said: "Like many other international operators, Orange has been considering opportunities in the Iranian market subsequent to the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)."

The JCPOA is a nuclear deal struck between Iran and six world powers.

Following that deal, most United Nations sanctions on Iran were lifted in January when the UN nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran fulfilled commitments under its nuclear deal.

Major international companies have been rushing to try and establish a position in Iran as the Islamic Republic reopened for business after the lifting of international sanctions.

"We are conducting feasibility studies to understand and assess what is possible in this complex environment," Orange said in its statement.

The French government controls 23 percent of the shares of Orange.

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The revision was signed by Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Yang-hee and Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Yonhap reported.

South Korea first signed the accord with Iran in 1990 before sanctions against Tehran were imposed.

The two ministers agreed on the need to restore a cooperation channel to promote partnerships in science and technology, officials said.

The ministry said it will reopen a joint science-technology committee, which has been suspended since 2004, as soon as possible.

The ministry will try to actively use the partnership as an opportunity for South Korean advanced technology and ICT firms to tap into Iran, it added.

"I ask the Iranian government to largely support South Korean firms making inroads into Iran with a huge potential in the ICT sector" Choi said.

Choi also urged the Iranian government to take follow-up measures on MOUs signed during President Park Geun-hye's landmark trip to Tehran in May.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of South Korea inked an MoU with TEM Invest Co. — a top Iranian firm specializing in ICT investment — on strategic partnerships. The Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology also agreed to push for joint research projects with the University of Tehran.

The Iranian minister also visited the headquarters of major tech firms, including Samsung Electronics Co., during his trip, officials said.

Iran's ICT market was valued at $17.9 billion in 2014 and it's expected to grow to $29.8 billion in 2020.

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Iran is regaining market share at a faster pace than analysts had projected since sanctions were lifted in January, and Iran's senior government official said it sees its oil production at 4 million barrels per day by yearend, Reuters reported.

The four countries, South Korea, Japan, China and India, imported 1.64 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, government and ship-tracking data showed.

Japan's Trade Ministry on Wednesday released official data showing its imports jumped 61.8 percent from a year earlier to 256,651 bpd in July.

Imports by South Korea jumped more than fourfold last month, while India's imports more than doubled from a year ago.

Iran's total production target in oil and gas condensates is 5.8 mbd by 2021, which if Iranian domestic demand stays constant at 1.8 mbd would allow exports to reach 4 mbd.

Iran is prepared to handle the new exports by increasing its available tanker fleet and completing additional export agreements.

Iran announced in mid-August that its exports of crude oil reached 2.1 mbd in June.

Mohsen Qamsari, the director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) added that the figure is still at least 0.4 mbd less than the average volume of oil exports of the country before the US-engineered sanctions were imposed against it.

He said that Iran's total exports of crude oil and gas condensates reached 2.7 mbd in June. The figure, Qamsari added, includes 0.6 mbd of condensates.

"The status of Iran's oil exports is good but they have not yet reached the pre-sanctions levels," he stated.

"Iran's exports of condensate in pre-sanctions years were lower than today's levels," underlined the official.

Qamsari further said that most of Iran's traditional clients have resumed oil purchase from the country. He added that negotiations are underway with a number of Asian clients over new sales contracts.

The sanctions restricted the country's oil exports to around 1 mbd.

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According to Shana, Ali Kardor listed Austria's OMV, France's Total, Germany's Wintershall , Indonesia's Pertamina, Russia's Lukoil and Zarubezhneft as among the companies which have signed deals with Iran.

Iran needs foreign investment to restore and upgrade its oil and gas fields and is also seeking the transfer of technology to its oil industry after a decade of sanctions.

Many Western and Asian oil firms are still waiting for Tehran to unveil its new model for oil and gas contracts (IPCs).

On Saturday, Abdolmohammad Delparish, NIOC's deputy managing director for corporate planning affairs said upstream oil and gas sectors require $100 billion in investment to meet the objectives of the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2016-21).

The official further said that progress of the Sixth Plan is contingent upon the materialization of the objectives of oil industry development.

"As you know, one of the main objectives of the Sixth Plan is to achieve economic growth of eight percent, and based on this target, the Oil Ministry should attain a nine-percent growth. NIOC is in charge of the major part of responsibilities to meet the growth objective," Delparish stated.

The official further announced that the daily oil, gas and gas condensate productions are projected to reach 4.5 million barrels, 1.3 billion cubic meters and 950,000 barrels respectively, according to the Sixth Plan.

He listed some of the programs of NIOC to achieve the objectives of the Sixth Plan as completing all first development phases of West Karoun oilfields (five oilfields in the western part of Iran's southwestern region of Karoun, straddling the borders with Iraq), and also South Pars Gas Field (which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf), and starting the second phases of development as well as making definite decision on all other joint fields.

Currently, about 30 million cubic meters of flare gases are burned each day, the official said pointing to the recovery of flare gases as one of the other programs of pursued by his company during the Sixth Plan.

He announced that 130 drilling rigs will be applied by NIOC in the discovery and production projects during the plan period.

NIOC plans to implement 30-35 development projects on average each year during the Sixth Plan, Delparish concluded.

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