Page 45 - IRANRptJun19

Those and other countries are facing difficulties in sending export payments to Tehran due to the heavy restrictions on any financial transactions with the Iranians also introduced by the US.
The chamber of commerce official added that for the medical channel to operate, European countries must state their agreement that Iran can transfer funds from buyers of Iranian crude in Asia to purchase medicines in Europe.
The Swiss have already designated two banks likely to accept the trade to be conducted with the mechanism: “It could either be the Heritage Bank or Banque de Commerce et de Placements [BCP], banks that were handling the Iranian money before the sanctions,” Nezam-Mafi said.
The exports would only flow from Switzerland and would only involve medicine provided by Swiss companies, he added.
9.1.10 Tourism sector news
Big numbers of bargain-hunting Azerbaijanis attracted by the collapse of the Iranian rial (IRR) appear to have been a major factor in driving up Iran’s foreign arrivals by 56% y/y in the first 10 months of the 2018/2019 Persian calendar year (March 21-January 20).
Iran’s definition of a tourist is "a foreigner who visits the country for a brief period", thus the figure includes those hopping over the border from neighbours including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey to take advantage of the severe devaluation of the rial caused by US sanctions.
The data was announced by Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO) official Leila Azhdari.
The largest contributor to foreign arrivals in Iran was Iraq with 2.2mn people. It was followed by Azerbaijan from where 1.3mn visitors hailed. The figures also recorded 700,000 arrivals from Afghanistan.
Azhdari noted that the number of European visitors declined year on year but declined to give a figure on the decrease.
She added that "1,980 US citizens entered the country during the period". Most likely many were visiting Iranian relatives. Very few Americans would have made the trip to Iran for other reasons in the assessed period given the hostility between Washington and Iran over the sanctions-led economic attack which the Trump administration has launched against Tehran.
Looking to reduce fears of travellers to Iran anxious that they might be persecuted at their next destination—particularly with regard to the US and Israel—Iran announced last year that it would no longer stamp the passports of foreigners entering the country.
Iran’s tourism industry has been hit by foreign airlines, wary of getting hit by secondary US sanctions, scrapping their flights to the country.
There have been recent efforts to boost tourism from friendly countries, including Russia and India, but Iran has failed to turn the tide on its declining tourism trade.
In November, Iran and Russia took another step towards mutually abolishing tourist visas .
9.1.11 Metallurgy & mining sector news
Donald Trump on May 8 ordered new sanctions on Iran, targeting metals, Tehran's largest non-petroleum-related source of export revenue. "Today's action targets Iran's revenue from the export of industrial metals—10 percent of its export economy—and puts other nations on notice that allowing
45 IRAN Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com