17 January 2011
Foreign investors have voiced their readiness to participate in national projects in the agro and fishing sectors, Deputy Economy Minister Behrouz Alishiri said.
"Attracting foreign investment in the agro and fishing sectors leads to improvement in standard of living of people and upgrading food standards," said Alishiri, who was addressing the first conference on investment opportunities in the fishing sector on Saturday.
"Food security is an important international concern. However, fluctuations in global prices in the recent years have created problems for developing countries," the official added.
He said despite Iran's God-given resources and suitable marine capacities, there still exists a gap between the existing capacities and the actual production level, IRNA reported.
He advised people in charge of agro projects and breeding aquatic animals to design their projects through the cooperation of domestic and international legal and financial consultants so that all dimensions of the project would be taken into account.
"These people should make available their projects to the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran for international marketing and absorbing domestic and foreign private sector investments," he noted.
Alishiri said one of the main concerns of the banking system of the country is non-payment of loan installations.
"If the executors of projects chip in at least up to 20 percent of investments and foreign investors invest up to 30 percent, banks will provide facilities with more assurances and there will be no problems in this regard," he noted.
Banking Facilities
Addressing the same event, acting manager of Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO) said after implementation of the Subsidy Reform Law the volume of banking facilities allocated for the fishery sector increased to 700 billion rials (about $70 million) from 200 billion rials (about $20 million).
Aminollah Taqavi Motlaq added that at the moment banking facilities could be provided to producers with 10 percent profit rate.
He underlined the role of insurance coverage in this sector and said the government pays for 10 percent of the insurance premium of fishermen.
Breeding Fish in Cages
He recalled that presently breeding fish in cages and also sturgeon is among the existing potentials of the country.
"At the moment, it is possible to breed up to 900,000 tons of fish in cages. Furthermore, baby fish can be produced and cages can be built in the country. Given the planning schemes of IFO, breeding aquatic animals in the country within the next 10 years should comply with global standards," the official added.
Taqavi Motlaq warned about extinction of 60 percent of fish reserves of the world and said given the governing circumstances, the fisheries sector should distance itself from fishing and instead move towards breeding fish.
"The level of fishing in the past 10 years has decreased to 87.9 million tons from 93.7 million tons," he noted.
He recalled that gross value added of fishing in the world for production of 89 million tons is $80 billion.
Facilities for Sturgeon Breeders
Managing Director of Bank Keshavarzi, Mohammad Talebi, who was speaking in the same undertaking, said in the wake of agreements reached with IFO special facilities will be allocated for breeders of caviar fish.
"Bank Keshavarzi is ready to provide suitable facilities for expanding breeding sturgeon. This requires credit support of the government. Investment in breeding sturgeon does not yield rapid profit and hence it always needs capital in circulation," added Talebi.
He recalled that special insurance coverage will be provided for producers of fish in cages which will lower investment risks in this sector.
The official said his bank is ready to support fishing in distant waters.
"Currently, the Parsian Ship is being prepared for fishing in distant waters through investment of about 300 billion rials (about $30 million)," he pointed out.
He also said suitable measures have been adopted to resolve problems that breeders of shrimp encounter.
"At present, there are some 7,000 shrimp farms in the country. But, only 4,000 hectares of these farms are being exploited. Therefore, it is crucial to use the remaining 3,000 hectares for breeding fish," concluded Talebi.
Reducing Fishing Discards
Fisheries experts agreed on first global guidelines on reducing discards, FAO reported. The first global guidelines for bycatch management and reduction of fishing discards were released on Friday by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
The guidelines were agreed by fisheries experts from 35 countries who met at FAO last month.
The guidelines cover all types of bycatch including discards, that is, fish that are caught accidentally and then thrown back into the sea either dead or dying. Unmanaged bycatch and discards threaten the long term sustainability of many fisheries and adversely affect the livelihoods of millions of fishers and fish workers.
Bycatch may also include endangered species, juvenile fish, turtles, seabirds, dolphins, etc. Depending on the definition used, current bycatch may be in excess of 20 million tons a year. In some countries, bycatch has an economic value and is consumed, making it hard to estimate the scale of the wastage.
The guidelines cover bycatch management planning, improvement of fishing gear, fisheries closures, economic incentives to facilitate uptake of measures, monitoring, research and development, building the capacity of states to follow the guidelines and other relevant issues.
Foreign investors have voiced their readiness to participate in national projects in the agro and fishing sectors, Deputy Economy Minister Behrouz Alishiri said.
"Attracting foreign investment in the agro and fishing sectors leads to improvement in standard of living of people and upgrading food standards," said Alishiri, who was addressing the first conference on investment opportunities in the fishing sector on Saturday.
"Food security is an important international concern. However, fluctuations in global prices in the recent years have created problems for developing countries," the official added.
He said despite Iran's God-given resources and suitable marine capacities, there still exists a gap between the existing capacities and the actual production level, IRNA reported.
He advised people in charge of agro projects and breeding aquatic animals to design their projects through the cooperation of domestic and international legal and financial consultants so that all dimensions of the project would be taken into account.
"These people should make available their projects to the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran for international marketing and absorbing domestic and foreign private sector investments," he noted.
Alishiri said one of the main concerns of the banking system of the country is non-payment of loan installations.
"If the executors of projects chip in at least up to 20 percent of investments and foreign investors invest up to 30 percent, banks will provide facilities with more assurances and there will be no problems in this regard," he noted.
Banking Facilities
Addressing the same event, acting manager of Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO) said after implementation of the Subsidy Reform Law the volume of banking facilities allocated for the fishery sector increased to 700 billion rials (about $70 million) from 200 billion rials (about $20 million).
Aminollah Taqavi Motlaq added that at the moment banking facilities could be provided to producers with 10 percent profit rate.
He underlined the role of insurance coverage in this sector and said the government pays for 10 percent of the insurance premium of fishermen.
Breeding Fish in Cages
He recalled that presently breeding fish in cages and also sturgeon is among the existing potentials of the country.
"At the moment, it is possible to breed up to 900,000 tons of fish in cages. Furthermore, baby fish can be produced and cages can be built in the country. Given the planning schemes of IFO, breeding aquatic animals in the country within the next 10 years should comply with global standards," the official added.
Taqavi Motlaq warned about extinction of 60 percent of fish reserves of the world and said given the governing circumstances, the fisheries sector should distance itself from fishing and instead move towards breeding fish.
"The level of fishing in the past 10 years has decreased to 87.9 million tons from 93.7 million tons," he noted.
He recalled that gross value added of fishing in the world for production of 89 million tons is $80 billion.
Facilities for Sturgeon Breeders
Managing Director of Bank Keshavarzi, Mohammad Talebi, who was speaking in the same undertaking, said in the wake of agreements reached with IFO special facilities will be allocated for breeders of caviar fish.
"Bank Keshavarzi is ready to provide suitable facilities for expanding breeding sturgeon. This requires credit support of the government. Investment in breeding sturgeon does not yield rapid profit and hence it always needs capital in circulation," added Talebi.
He recalled that special insurance coverage will be provided for producers of fish in cages which will lower investment risks in this sector.
The official said his bank is ready to support fishing in distant waters.
"Currently, the Parsian Ship is being prepared for fishing in distant waters through investment of about 300 billion rials (about $30 million)," he pointed out.
He also said suitable measures have been adopted to resolve problems that breeders of shrimp encounter.
"At present, there are some 7,000 shrimp farms in the country. But, only 4,000 hectares of these farms are being exploited. Therefore, it is crucial to use the remaining 3,000 hectares for breeding fish," concluded Talebi.
Reducing Fishing Discards
Fisheries experts agreed on first global guidelines on reducing discards, FAO reported. The first global guidelines for bycatch management and reduction of fishing discards were released on Friday by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
The guidelines were agreed by fisheries experts from 35 countries who met at FAO last month.
The guidelines cover all types of bycatch including discards, that is, fish that are caught accidentally and then thrown back into the sea either dead or dying. Unmanaged bycatch and discards threaten the long term sustainability of many fisheries and adversely affect the livelihoods of millions of fishers and fish workers.
Bycatch may also include endangered species, juvenile fish, turtles, seabirds, dolphins, etc. Depending on the definition used, current bycatch may be in excess of 20 million tons a year. In some countries, bycatch has an economic value and is consumed, making it hard to estimate the scale of the wastage.
The guidelines cover bycatch management planning, improvement of fishing gear, fisheries closures, economic incentives to facilitate uptake of measures, monitoring, research and development, building the capacity of states to follow the guidelines and other relevant issues.
© Iran Daily 2011
