Page 42 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Iran Dec17

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have placed the prospects of such cooperation in question. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said the new facility is also “important in the context of reviving the Great Silk Road”, referring to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative which seeks to turn Central Asia into a transit zone with modern infrastructure for Chinese goods export.
9.1.4 TMT sector news
The Russian-made mobile ride-hailing application Maxim has been quietly launched in Iran according to a social media post that appeared on October 8. The application, which runs on both iOS and Android, was previously only available in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). No mention of the launch has appeared on the Maxim website but Iran is listed as a country with the service. Iran’s leading domestically developer ride-hailing application, Snapp, has received more than $20mn in direct investment over recent years, with substantial funds flowing from South Africa. The second biggest such application, Tap30, has received significant funding from European sources. The Maxim application is available in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus. There are 27mn registered cars in Iran. The number of vehicles registered as taxis numbers around 80,000. Included in the figure are private taxis and “shared taxis” - price controlled rides called “savaris”. Despite the official figures, it is thought that, including unofficial cabs, there are over 200,000 taxis available on any given day in Tehran. Many city inhabitants hail for any car that is prepared to stop for them.
9.1.5 Retail sector news
Iranian Deputy Minister for Communications and Information Technology Hossein Mehri has criticised application-based courier services for dealing with bootleg alcohol, Iran Labour News Agency reported on October 23. Alcohol consumption and sales have been illegal in majority-Muslim Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with exceptions to the law granted to Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who are allowed to produce and consume locally made liquor. According to Mehri, several app-based courier services are being used by illicit alcohol and drug dealers to send items to consumers disguised as other products. He said the services went mostly unchecked by the authorities and many of the motorbike delivery drivers are not registered with the national courier association, making the situation worse. Mehri further noted that many of the applications utilised are not licensed and are in fact illegal according to current registration requirements. In recent years, alcohol consumption and alcoholism rates have skyrocketed in Iran along with the consumption of drugs of all classes. Foreign-produced alcohol is often smuggled in from neighbouring countries, with the most common source being Iraqi Kurdistan.
9.1.6 Health Care sector news
The UK's International Hospitals Group (IHG) has signed a memorandum of understanding on a €1.8bn deal to build several cancer research hospitals in Iran, according to Tasnim News Agency. The signing reportedly took place in the Iranian Embassy in London on October 23 with the participation of representatives of Iran’s Ministry of Health and Education. The
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