Khorramabad, May 31, IRNA – Secretary of Expediency Council proposed all-out support of the political parties and groups for the government in order to facilitate development and advancement, eliminate problems and defeat enemies’ plots and conspiracies.
“We need to take advantage of the entire existing potentials and capabilities and resort to unity and solidarity in support of the basic policies of the government and provision of the path for elimination of the problems and development of our country,” said Mohsen Reza’ie in a pre-sermons address in Aligoudarz City.
He referred to the Supreme Leader’s nomination of the current Iranian year (1393) as the ‘Economy and Culture Year relying on national will and Jihadi management’ saying, “That was an effective step taken by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in line with advancement and development of the country.”

He encouraged the whole nation to be at the scene with their tireless efforts aimed at making that motto come true.

Referring to the present day status of the country and the world, Reza’ie added, “Imposing economic sanctions against Iran was a political move aimed at encountering the exalted ideals of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Blocking the country’s assets and imposing broad scale sanctions against Iran were only aimed at paralyzing the Iranian economy and blocking the path for the county’s development and advancement,” he argued.

The secretary of the Expediency Council meanwhile referred to the Supreme Leader’s ordering of implementing the resistance economy policies, adding, “Implementing those basic policies based on the devised ideas of the Supreme Leader and paying attention to the resistance economy rules is the main strategy for getting out of the current conditions and leading towards sustainable development of our national economy.”

He proposed making best use of the whole capacities and capabilities of the country and the nation, especially the young and educated generation and the elite class in line with growth and exalting of the country maximally.

The secretary of the Expediency Council said that Iran is experiencing very special and sensitive conditions today in which the enemy tries to block the path for our advancement and development by imposing crippling sanctions, proposing that the only way to counter that plot is unity and solidarity of the whole political parties and groups, making best use of the internal capacities, and doing hard work relying on national will and Jihadi management.

He said that implementing those important hints would lead to the defeat of the entire plots hatched by the enemy, adding, “In this regard the most important demand of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution is the continuous presence of the people at the scenes of defending the revolution, Jihadi and selfless endeavors of the officials at the service of the people, and evermore advancement and development of the country.”

In a decree issued Feb. 19, Iran?s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei introduced the general policies of Iran’s “resistance economy.” The following are some of the key objectives presented in this document:

• Domestic capacity building with maximal utilization of the country’s resources, with a special focus on the participation of lower and middle-income classes in wealth generation

• Promotion of a knowledge-based economy through drafting and implementing a comprehensive, scientific plan for the country and promoting innovation with the ultimate goal of becoming the No. 1 knowledge-based economy of the region

• Increased efficiency in economic activity, improvement of economic competitiveness

• Utilization of subsidy reforms to optimize energy consumption in the country, increase employment and domestic production and promote social justice

• Improve Total Factor Productivity based on the empowerment of domestic human resources through skills education

• Promotion of domestic production, especially in strategic products and services and the consequent reduction of dependence on imports

• Provision of food and medicine security

• Consumption management based on the promotion of consumption of local products parallel to the qualitative improvement of domestic production

• Comprehensive reform of the financial system to respond to the country’s needs

• Targeted promotion of exportable goods and services through legal and administrative reform as well as the promotion of foreign investment for export purposes

• Increase the economy’s resistance through regional and international economic collaboration, especially with neighbors but also through diplomacy

• Reduce vulnerability of oil and gas exports through the selection of strategic buyers and involving the private sector in diversifying sales channels

• Increase oil and gas value-added exports

• Increase oil and gas strategic reserves and production to have an impact on international markets

• Implement reforms to rationalize government costs, increase tax revenues and reduce dependency on oil and gas export revenue

• Increase the share of the National Development Fund from oil and gas export revenues

• Increase transparency in financial matters and avoid activities that pave the way for corruption

President Hassan Rouhani immediately reacted to Ayatollah Khamenei?s decree and clarified tasks for a number of government institutions on how to plan and implement the needed policies. As is common in Iran’s governmental affairs, a number of committees and task forces have been established to follow up on the actions needed to achieve the above objectives.

Some analysts see the issuance of the decree as a reminder by the Supreme Leader that the positive outlook for nuclear negotiations should not derail the country’s overall effort to reduce its vulnerability to external sanctions. Indeed, a number of powerful stakeholders in Iran believe that sanctions generated an opportunity to become more focused and more efficient. As such, one can understand the timing and content of this initiative as a push not to allow the Iranian industry and government to fall back into a mentality of imports and maintain the momentum that has been generated through sanctions.

It is true that the term “resistance economy” emerged as an Iranian response to the western sanctions regime, and it is also valid that some of the above objectives are designed to strengthen the Iranian economy against external pressure. However, the majority of the above goals had already been defined in the country’s 20-Year Prospective Document (also known as Vision 2025), which had been passed and also decreed by Ayatollah Khamenei in 2005. Vision 2025 called on the Iranian government to pave the way for Iran to become a knowledge-based economy and the region’s top economic and technological power by 2025.

By IRNA

 

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