Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attending a video conference. EPA
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attending a video conference. EPA
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attending a video conference. EPA
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attending a video conference. EPA

Qatar and Iran sign agreements to boost trade and ties


Mina Aldroubi
  • English
  • Arabic

Iran and Qatar have formed a joint trade and private sector committees to enhance their ties, the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.

Relations between Doha and Tehran has been a cause for concern for the US and Gulf Arab states who accuse Iran of meddling into regional affairs and arming proxy groups in the region.

"The two states have signed various memorandum of understandings for co-operation in a variety of areas during the seventh Joint Economic Committee meeting," a statement by IRNA said.

A commercial adviser will be sent to their embassies in Tehran and Doha to ensure the deal goes through.

The agreements stipulate that the ports of the two countries will be used to boost the export and import of goods. Medical agreements between the two were also signed in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tehran registered a record 13,843 new cases on Wednesday, the health ministry said, pushing the tally to 894,385.

The country recorded 469 deaths in the preceding 24 hours, pushing the number of deaths to 46,207.

Iran's health officials have voiced alarm over a surge in infections, urging the public to adhere to health protocols, including wearing face masks and social distancing.

Iran has been the centre of the pandemic in the region since the virus emerged earlier this year.

“Co-operation between Qatar and Iran has been enhanced in the fields of pharmaceutical and medical equipment, higher education and scientific research,” IRNA said.

The meeting this week, held in Iran's central Isfahan province, was attended by the Qatari ambassador to Tehran, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, and the heads of the Chamber of Commerce, as well as representatives of the relevant authorities from each side, according to IRNA.

Iran’s Energy Minister, Reza Ardakanian visited Doha last month to push for co-operation between Tehran and Doha in the areas of agriculture, electricity, water and gas.

In 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar over its funding of terrorism and ties to extremist groups.

The talks between the Qatari and Iranian officials could widen the rift between Doha and the Arab quartet

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League final:

Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The low down

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Director: Namrata Singh Gujral

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark

Rating: 2/5

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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz

Fight card

Preliminaries:

Nouredine Samir (UAE) v Sheroz Kholmirzav (UZB); Lucas Porst (SWE) v Ellis Barboza (GBR); Mouhmad Amine Alharar (MAR) v Mohammed Mardi (UAE); Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) v Spyro Besiri (GRE); Aslamjan Ortikov (UZB) v Joshua Ridgwell (GBR)

Main card:

Carlos Prates (BRA) v Dmitry Valent (BLR); Bobirjon Tagiev (UZB) v Valentin Thibaut (FRA); Arthur Meyer (FRA) v Hicham Moujtahid (BEL); Ines Es Salehy (BEL) v Myriame Djedidi (FRA); Craig Coakley (IRE) v Deniz Demirkapu (TUR); Artem Avanesov (ARM) v Badreddine Attif (MAR); Abdulvosid Buranov (RUS) v Akram Hamidi (FRA)

Title card:

Intercontinental Lightweight: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) v Angel Marquez (ESP)

Intercontinental Middleweight: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) v Francesco Iadanza (ITA)

Asian Featherweight: Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) v Phillip Delarmino (PHI)

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

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Series information

Pakistan v Dubai

First Test, Dubai International Stadium

Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11

Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20          

 Play starts at 10am each day

 

Teams

 Pakistan

1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza

 Australia

1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland

The%20specs
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Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions

There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.

1 Going Dark

A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.

2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers

A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.

3. Fake Destinations

Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.

4. Rebranded Barrels

Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.

* Bloomberg

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

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Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega

Director: Tim Burton

Rating: 3/5

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Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.