Meeting with Members of the National Engineer's Day Commemoration Headquarters

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Welcome, gentlemen responsible for the engineering sectors of the country. Regarding engineering issues, Mr. Engineer Bahonar has expressed noteworthy points. This vast domain of engineering work, which he has indeed extended to human sciences, was justified by him as the engineering of the country's culture—here, engineering is used in its literal sense, not its technical meaning. However, the extent of engineering work in the country is indeed broad; the description he provided is a good one; the suggestions included in his letter, which I had previously read, are valid; we also endorse them.

One point regarding the issues related to the engineers of the country was left unmentioned in his remarks, and that is the role of young engineering groups in the matters of the Revolution; during the revolutionary struggles, our technical colleges across the country were among the pioneers of the struggles; after the victory of the Revolution, especially during the Sacred Defense, engineers were truly the self-sacrificing soldiers who utilized all their capabilities, strength, talent, art, and genius, which we witnessed during the war. It can be said that every day a new phenomenon emerged from these talented young individuals who had pursued engineering disciplines; even after the Sacred Defense, this continued. Now, the fields of nanotechnology, stem cells, and biotechnology that he mentioned are all works that emerged after the Sacred Defense, where our young engineers have also contributed. Well, they have had significant responsibilities; now, when we look around, thanks be to God, many of the country's leaders are engineers, which has caused some objections; they say engineers are constantly being brought into positions.

What you must do is first demonstrate the issue of "we can"—which, fortunately, is a widely accepted slogan among all fair-minded individuals in this country—to the people; just as it is mentioned in his writing. In various sectors, strive to accomplish the unfinished tasks. For instance, in the export of engineering services, we mostly observe civil engineering works; you should ensure that the engineering products of the country are present in international exchanges; that is, we should genuinely be able to present the products of our engineers in factories, parts manufacturing, and various extensive engineering sectors in the global market; this is an important task that you are capable of handling; that is, you have responsibilities in this area, whether in the government or the parliament, and you can make decisions.

And strive to reduce the pressure of imports on the country; this is a truly important issue. Today, the pressure of imports is exhausting the country; there are various excuses for this. For example, the issue of smuggling; the figures being mentioned these days are astonishingly bewildering, over twenty billion in smuggling! It truly makes one dizzy. Well, then, under the pretext of preventing smuggling, we open the way for imports to come through customs so that we can also gain profit; this does not seem to me to be a strong logic; work to ensure that the products of the country are not overwhelmed by imports. These products are those that are being created and produced in various sectors by our talented young individuals, our faithful men, and sometimes our geniuses. This is a point that I believe is very important.

The issue of resistant economy that you mentioned has been endorsed perhaps a thousand times by officials—albeit with variations—various officials, economic activists, even political activists, government officials, parliament, etc., have repeatedly stated resistant economy, resistant economy; well, that is good; however, merely mentioning the name and repeating it verbally does not lead to any change; nothing happens. Just as mentioning the name of a medicine and repeating it does not cure any illness; the medicine must be consumed. You in the parliament and government should see what has truly been done for the resistant economy in its true sense and what needs to be done. I believe this should be pursued seriously.

The third issue is that regarding engineering matters, as I mentioned, seek out the gaps; see where we have deficiencies. Well, we have made progress in the field of part manufacturing; for instance, in the construction of machinery, we have advanced, and we observe innovations in various fields. Engineering in design, engineering in factory construction—these are the tasks we must take seriously and pursue. If you can establish the tradition of design and innovation in addressing various needs, then that will be a commendable tradition that, as long as it exists in the country, God Almighty will reward you. Pursue the tasks that are gaps in the country, that are needs of the country. In any case, we hope that God grants you success, assists you, and enables you to accomplish your tasks.

Well, thanks be to God, as I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, our engineers are numerous in sensitive centers; you have many engineers in the parliament, many engineers in the government, and many in various sectors; pay attention to your responsibilities and genuinely utilize engineering tools; see what needs to be done, and God willing, accomplish those tasks. God willing, may God grant you all success and support.