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stores, is now going one step further by developing a local version of the popular operating system.
A limited number of companies including Iranian phone producer GLX are said to be rolling out the Iranian version of Android, minus the Google services but including apps like Café Bazaar, the most famous indigenous software store. The new home-made Android Operating System (OS) has been designed and developed by a group of IT experts at Sharif University of Technology, often dubbed “MIT of Iran”, many of whose graduates land jobs in top US tech firms. Google has not specifically banned Iranian users from their system, but Iran’s IT minister said the move was developed in preparation for a possible disconnection of its phones from the popular phone system.
“Google cannot eliminate the Iranian-made operating system,” said Iran’s Communication, Information and Technology (CIT) Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi on July 8.
Earlier this year, several popular applications including ride-hailing and online ordering systems were removed from both Apple and Google’s operating systems over sanctions violations.
9.1.6​ Agriculture sector news
Kazakhstan’s state-run grain exporter Astyk Trans is launching a “pilot regime” to reduce tariffs on exporting grain to Iran, Afghanistan and China, cutting the tariffs to 30% from 35%, Astyk Trans said on its website.
The measure is aimed at supporting domestic grain exporters, the company added. Astyk Trans also noted that if the measure led to an increase in overall Kazakh grain exports, the measure would become a permanent one.
“The features of the current marketing year require constant work to find approaches to support the competitiveness of the export potential of Kazakhstan grain. High grain yields in neighboring countries, the current geopolitical situation in the region, high potential for export growth to China, as well as a tariff imbalance in grain imports in some traditional directions, can seriously affect the volume of grain exports to these export directions,” the company’s statement said.
On September 4, it was reported that an ​Iranian company had invested KZT1.5bn​ in a new meat processing plant in Kazakhstan.
The plant’s annual capacity will amount to 8,000 tonnes. It is expected to start annually exporting 640 tonnes of meat to Iran. It will also export meat products to China.
Reports in March said that Kazakhstan had agreed to export live cattle to Iran as part of efforts to fill a gap in Iranian meat imports.
Iranian importers have stopped paying for Indian basmati rice in recent months due to the US sanctions targeted at Tehran, the Business Standard has reported​.
The situation has cut the basmati rice price by 12% m/m, allowing larger stocks to be used in India. Due to the US pressure to stop transactions involving business with Iran, many would-be Iranian importers of the rice have found finding ways to transfer the required large funds too cumbersome.
“Indian exporters are currently executing old orders. Hence, there is no export problem as of now. But, importers in Iran have stopped fresh payments for the past one month, bringing new orders to a complete halt. As long as advance payments to their accounts continue, exporters would face no issues. But, fresh exports would be difficult. Indian markets have already started
45​ IRAN Country Report​ October 2019 www.intellinews.com