Iran, Thailand underline bilateral relations
Friday, December 10, 2004 - ©2004 IranMania.com
Tehran, Dec 10 (IranMania) - Iran`s Ambassador to Thailand Mohsen Pak Aeen on Thursday said that the two countries have enough potentials to promote bilateral relations in various fields, Iran's State News Agency, IRNA said.
In his meeting with Palakorn Suwanrat, Thai king representative to the Privy Council, he remarked that Iran is ready to expand relations in economic and trade areas with the south-east Asian country.
The Iranian diplomat also attached importance to the role the mass media play to introduce different cultures among nations and called for interaction in mass media of the two countries.
In the meeting, the Thai official called for implementing research and joint projects given the long-term relations between his country and Iran.
He also proposed holding bilateral seminars in an effort to know the fields for developing mutual relations between Iran and Thailand.
Privy Council has a duty to render advice to the king on all matters pertaining to his function as he may consult. The Privy has 18 Councilors.
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Iran to Pull out of ThyssenKrupp
Friday, December 10, 2004 - ©2004 IranMania.com
LONDON, Dec 10 (IranMania) - Iran is to sell its stake in the German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp in the medium term after pressure from the United States forced a representative from Tehran off the company's supervisory board, the Financial Times Deutschland reported on Friday.
"There is no sense in keeping hold of our stake, since we can no longer control our investment," the newspaper quoted a source close to the Iranian public holding company IFIC as saying.
There were no concrete plans to sell the stake just yet. But if the price were right, there was nothing opposing a sale, the source was quoted as saying.
At current market prices, Iran's 4.5-percent stake in ThyssenKrupp would be worth around 357 mln euros ($470 mln), FT Deutschland estimated.
On Thursday, it emerged that the Iranian government's official on ThyssenKrupp's supervisory board -- the deputy minister for economic and international affairs Mohamad-Mehdi Navab-Motlagh -- was not standing for re-election at the German company's upcoming annual shareholders meeting on January 21.
ThyssenKrupp itself made no comment on the matter. But press reports suggested the move was a result of pressure from the US, which was threatening to exclude the German steel and engineering giant from public contracts if Iran did not give up its seat on the board.
"We're not happy with the way we're being treated," the newspaper quoted the IFIC source as saying.
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