1.98 Trillion Rials For Carpet Industry

1.98 Trillion Rials For Carpet Industry
TEHRAN, March 11--Loans worth about 1.98 trillion rials have been allocated for projects with quick returns as well creating jobs in the hand-woven carpet industry, disclosed Deputy Commerce Minister for economic development Mehdi Ghazanfari.He further stated that about 75 billion rials have been earmarked for extending technical assistance to set up carpet weaving factories.He said that so far the head offices of banks are considering loan applications for establishing 78 carpet weaving factories and 251 raw material production units.The official said that 35,000 carpet weavers will be covered by insurance.Increasing export incentives from three to five percent, undertaking research on dye and design are among the other measures to promote the carpet industry, he noted.Ghazanfari added that efforts have been made to maintain and develop current markets through proper publicity campaign as well as to introduce Iranian rugs on leading TV channels.He added that the number of ships increased from 114 to 117 and agreements signed for the purchase of 33 container and cargo ships.The official added that about 5,115,047 tons of commodities were loaded for transporting through sea during the first nine months of the year to March 2007, up by 21 percent compared to the corresponding figure for the preceding year.Ghazanfari said that regular shipping lines have been expanded from the southern ports to Asian and European countries while weekly services are operating from Asia to Europe.