Page 50 - IRANRptOct21

Iran, Russia agree visa-free group tourism using accredited companies
Hotel closure rate in Iran has hit 30% amid pandemic says federation
Baghdad. The government of Iraq, like that of Iran, is under the control of Shi’ite Islamic officials.
No specific date has been announced for the start of the visa waiver scheme, but the commitment to it comes as great numbers of Iranians prepare to cross the border with Iraq for the annual Arba’een pilgrimage, an important holy event for Shi’ite Islam.
Arba’een each year brings about one of the largest religious gatherings in the world—it is sometimes referred to as the biggest movement of men, women and children on the planet. It falls 40 days after Ashura, the anniversary of the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad and the third Imam, al-Hussain ibn Ali.
A deal between Russia and Iran that cancels visa requirements for tourist groups travelling under credited company arrangements has been signed by head of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism Zarina Doguzova and Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ali Asghar Mounesan.
The agreement means one tourist group will be able to travel on just one visa. The signing in Moscow was announced by Iran’s Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali. "At the meeting, an action plan was signed on fulfilling an agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian government on visa-free trips for the two countries’ citizens," Jalali wrote on his Facebook page.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last October that visa waivers for Iranian tourist groups would take effect in the near future.
Some 30% of hotels in Iran have shut down since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the country in February, the Federation of Hotel Owners has said.
A collapse in bookings and lack of support provided to hotel owners to stay solvent saw many hotels either forced to close or mothball operations, it added.
“The industry has suffered Iranian rial 85tn ($304mn at the free market rate) in losses because of the pandemic and the radical decline in domestic and international travel,” federation representative Jamshid Hamzehzadeh was quoted as saying.
Some 70% of jobs have been lost in Iran’s hotel industry in the past year, with local tourism essentially non-existent on a short-term perspective, he added. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, 240,000 people were directly employed and 550,000 were indirectly employed in the Iranian tourism industry, industry estimates suggest.
9.1.6 TMT sector news
Iran launches domestically produced 5G core network
Sadad Informatics, an Iranian company known for supporting interbank transfers, has announced that it has developed Iran's first fifth-generation (5G) core network, ILNA reported on September 21.
Iran’s technological core networks have been supported by companies including Huawei and Nokia, but this announcement indicates that the country has managed to develop its own such backbone infrastructure for the first time. Sadad CEO Mohsen Alipour was reported as saying that the business will be able to offer 5G support and technology services to local internet providers in coming months.
"Today, we unveil 100% Iranian 5G and negotiations and consultations with
50 IRAN Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com