Kiwifruit: a cooperation bridge between Iran and New Zealand World’s largest marketer of kiwifruit, Zespri, invests in Iran, announces Iran Ambassador to New Zealand, before the visit of the Minister of Agriculture of New Zealand to Tehran. Iran is one of the main fruit producers in the world. Kiwifruit production in Iran from March2015-16 was more than 305K tons. Zespri, an exporter to 54 countries, is seeking cooperation with the Iranian gardeners. Read More about Kiwifruit in Iran

Traveling with train? These routes are sold out Although one month is left to the Iranian new year, Norouz, which starts on 21. March, many train tickets are already sold out. There are 1.65 million seats in trains for 15 March to 5 April, from which nearly half of them are for the routes to the holly city of Mashhad. Many Iranians spend the new year day in Imam Reza Shrine. Iran Railway Co. (RAJA) has replaced 61 old wagons and estimates improvements in its services by 20%. Read more about Trains in Norouz

More gas stations become private in Iran Following the privatization plans in Iran, National Oil Company sells its gas stations to private sector. In the third auction by the Privatization Agency, 60 refueling stations in 13 provinces were put up for auction, out of which 39 were sold. The base price for these 39 stations was 2000 billion IRR ($61.7m) and the selling price was 37% higher than the base price and close to 2750 billion IRR ($84.9m). Gas stations are sold in a combination of upfront cash and installment. Read more about Gas Stations Auction

Khuzestan covered by sand Continues dust storms over the last few weeks have led to the closing of schools and businesses in Khuzestan. Power and water in a number of larger cities such as Ahwaz and Abadan have also been cut off. Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Khodakaram Jalali, introduces 1.2 million hectares of desert in Khuzestan Province as the main domestic source of dust storms in this region. President Rohani orders immediate actions in desert-reduction projects, i.e. oasification. So far 1.5 billion USD credit line from the National Development Fund has been assigned to oasification of 550 thousand hectares of deserts in Khuzestan. Read more about Dust Storm in Khuzestan