Efficient Regulatory Structures for Restructuring & Privatization of Electricity and Telecommunication

Organized by

Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO)

in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)

Final Schedule

One Day Seminar (May 7, 2002)

Niro Research Institute, Tehran

08:20 Opening Ceremony

08:30 Introductory Speech by Mr. Ali-Akbar, IPO President

In this introductory session of the Seminar, the IPO president will explain IPO's mission and its legal tasks and objectives and the privatization mechanism set out in the Third Iranian Development Plan. He will also focus on current regulatory framework and laws on privatization of utility sectors in Iran. The essential regulations required as privatizing infrastructure of the Country will be tallied.

08:45 H.E. Tamashb Mazahari, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs

09:15 H.E. Ambassador Dr. R. Reyels, Federal Republic of German

09:35 Mr. Majid Ansari, Head of Planning and Budget Commission, Majlis (the Parliament)

10:00 Coffee Break

10:30 Dr. Eirik Svindland, Senior Advisor , GTZ

Alternative Models for Private Sector Participation in the Utility Sector

Dr. Svindland will examine the latest experience of Federal Government of Germany in transferring public assets of utility SOE’s to private sector, and their implications for developing countries. The German expert will focus on the regulatory structure of such transfers, and the challenges of reaching wider acceptances under existing legal constraints. The GTZ lecturer will explain that the development and application of proper regulatory framework constitutes one of the most powerful factors in privatization programs. The regulatory structure affects almost every aspect of privatization -- from what and whom gets public assets, to whose interests are served by the process, and the political and social complications of privatization programs. Dr. Svindland will focus on alternative models of such transfers.

11.00 Roundtable Discussion

Efficient Regulatory Structure for Privatization in Iran

Parliamentarians, private sector executives, and academicians will discuss the existing regulatory structure for privatization in Iran, and areas required to be improved. The attending group will be encouraged to ask questions, and speak openly about their own experience of working within Iranian opaque regulatory structure.

Facilitator: Mr. Davoodi, IPO

12:30 Prayer Time and Lunch

14:00 H.E. Dr. Moatamedi, Minister of Post, Telegraph & Telephone

14.30 Dr. Annegret Groebel, Senior Advisor of German Regulatory Agency for Telecommunication and Post on behalf of GTZ

Competition, Regulation and Privatization of the Utility Sector in the European Context

Dr. Groebel will also examine the latest experience of Federal Government of Germany and European Union in transferring public utility assets of SOE’s to private sector, and their implications for Iranian case. Privatization of utilities in Germany and rest of Europe has been based on a transparent regulatory structures within the rules of market economy. This structure along side topics such as special characteristics of privatizing utility enterprises, methods of privatization, aims of privatization, and its social and political dimension in European experience will be discussed in this session. Dr. Groebel will discuss the key points of formulating a funding strategy for such costly privatization programs. The speaker will explain how Economic Union exposed all European utility companies to international competition. A description of a German expert's experience on privatization of European utility facilities to Iranian audience will help them to learn the effects of a global trend in transferring public assets to private hands and management.

15:00 Dr. Werner Goetz, Senior Advisor of Federal German Ministry of Finance (BMF) on behalf of GTZ

Restructuring and Regulation of the Telecom Sector-The German Experience

Privatization of telecommunication industry in Germany has been based on a transparent law and regulatory structure within the rules of market economy. This structure along side topics such as special characteristics of privatizing telecommunication enterprises, methods pf privatization, aims of privatization, and its social and political dimensions in German experience will be discussed in this lecture. The expert of the Federal German Ministry of Finance (BMF) will discuss the key points of formulating a funding strategy for such costly privatization programs. Dr. Goetz will explain how the Economic Union exposed all European utility companies to international competition. The effect of these new economic conditions on the European industrial structure was profound. Privatization as an ongoing process continued in all European countries. A description of a German‘s experience on privatization of telecommunication facilities to Iranian audience will help them to learn the effects of a global trend in transferring public assets to private hands and management.

15.30 Coffee Break

16.00 Roundtable Discussion

Prospect of Utility Sector Privatization in Iran

In this roundtable discussion the participants will discuss about Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) experts’ point of views on power and telecommunication privatization experience in Germany and Europe. They analyze the ways and means of transferring the rights of ownership of such state monopolies from public to private hands, focusing on regulatory framework of such transfers. The session should frame the future of power, gas, water, and telecommunication privatization in Iran, with an issues-oriented approach. Successful models for making a go of government assets in these industries in the absence of strong corporate backing and lack of transparent regulatory structure shall also be talked about.

Facilitator: Dr. Hussein Abdoh-Tabrizi, Ministry of Finance & Economic Affairs

18:00 End of Workshop

Working Sessions on Efficient Regulatory Structures for Restructuring & Privatization of Electricity and Telecommunication

Preliminary Schedule

Two Day Workshop for Special Audience (May 8 and9, 2002)

Niro Research Institute, Tehran

This is the Phase 2 of presentation by Deutsche senior advisors to Iranian audience on German experience of privatizing power and telecommunication sectors. From this session on, only the privatization experts and Government transferors' of public assets in three Iranian organizations (Ministry of Power, Ministry of Telecommunication, and Iranian Privatization Organization) will attend the workshops. Six working sessions will be held: 4 on May 8, and 2 in the morning of May 9. The sessions on May 9 is limited to IPO people and a few experts in the field.

In the first session on May 8, Iranian Privatization Organization consultants will prepare a preliminary statement based on the conclusions reached at the last session (plenary) of the workshop on May 7. This statement will put into discussion in order to make the ground for later sessions. In the remaining 3 sessions of May 8, the German senior consultants and experts will discuss German experience of utility privatization programs with Iranian senior civil servants. The senior advisors from Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH's will advise Iranian experts on legal reorganization of the state electricity and power sectors, evaluation of potential enterprises, financial reorganization of individual firms, rehabilitation (restructuring) of existing firms, and provide them with a critical appraisal of the German privatization strategy in electricity and telecommunication. Some Iranian moderators will also help in group discussions to keep lively and candid talks to go on.

In these working sessions, the organizational structure of German privatization process in electricity and telecommunication areas will be discussed at length. The focus again will be on regulatory framework, on building new structures and setting up an organization and exploring ways of reaching wider audiences to justify the necessity of privatization of these two sectors. The sittings will also cover the background and rationale as well as the major reasons for utility sector privatization, and the minimum policy requirements for a successful implementation.

In their opening speeches to each working sessions, the German expert will address the audience with a general preface of the subject discussed in that meeting onward. The German experts’ experience on organizing privatization and restructuring programs of power and telecommunication industries and the way economic democracy has been preserved in the process are of much interest to Iranian Government, workers' organizations, employers' organizations, IPO, consultants, academicians and managers. Since the Iranian participants will be much interested in the social aspects of privatization, structural adjustment and economic transformation, the Deutsche senior advisors will set down German experience on these aspects of privatization.

In the first working session on May 9, an Iranian expert will deliver an opening lecture explaining limited privatization measures taken in Iranian power and telecommunication ministries. Then the German presenters will pass their opinions on issues brought up by the Iranian lecturer concerning privatization in electricity and telecommunication sectors. They will indicate areas of privatization and economic transformation in electricity and communication industries that are strategically more important: areas such as property rights, restoration of private ownership of the related assets, and the strengthening of private sector presence, including foreign investors, on the basis of a market economy.

In the last concluding working session, senior German advisors and Iranian participating authorities will draft a statement on their views of the framework and organization of a successful future operation to privatize Iranian electricity and telecommunication industries.

May 8, 2002

13:00 End of Working Sessions

Notes:

* Farsi translation of handouts and articles will be distributed ahead of the sessions to enable the participants to prepare themselves for the meetings.

*The workshop and sessions will be held in English. An in-house interpreter will always be ready at sessions and discussions to facilitate the communication.

*250 people are expected to attend the Seminar. The working sessions will be limited to 30 people.