Statements in Meeting with Producers and Economic Activists

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure, virtuous, and infallible family.

I am very pleased and grateful to the esteemed gentlemen and ladies who have delivered statements here for our benefit and for all listeners. The exhibition that we had the opportunity to see yesterday was a very exciting and prominent exhibition. I believe we can introduce this exhibition as a sample of the scientific and technological power of the country. My only regret is that these advancements have not been explained to the people, and certainly most of our compatriots are unaware of the efforts that have been made, the successes that have been achieved, and the innovations that have emerged from our elite human resources. Yesterday, I encountered talented youth; I paid attention to their speech and recognized that they are truly elite. Today, fortunately, among these speakers, some are young, and all of them, thanks be to God, are elite. In my opinion, this is a reason for gratitude, and we must be thankful to the Almighty God. All these blessings are from God: وَ ما بِکُم مِن نِعمَةٍ فَمِنَ الله; (And whatever blessing you have is from God); all of these are divine blessings, divine success for you and for the country, and certainly for the officials; we must appreciate and pursue this success.

I have noted two or three of the requests that the gentlemen made, so that friends in the government, along with officials from our office, can form working groups to follow these up. The multi-faceted industrial complexes that were mentioned are an important point; the issue of financing and the proposals that were later made for medium and small enterprises is a correct and important matter that must be pursued; the topic of modern irrigation mentioned for agriculture is both water conservation and increasing agricultural production and farmers' income. These are vital for us; these are things that we need; I urge friends in the government to pursue these; that is, truly form working groups for these, sit down and think, seek opinions from them, and take action. Now I will also present some points.

The clear truth that one observes is that the large production enterprises in our country have experienced significant growth over the years. This remarkable growth from the private sector—by which I mean the private sector enterprises—is very meaningful; it indicates the existence of a capable and powerful private sector in the country, and this is important news; why? Because this growth and progress and the work that has been done have all occurred under sanctions, and in addition to the fact that some periods have also been periods of government inactivity—the 1990s were not a very good decade for us—yet, in any case, this work has been accomplished. This indicates that in the current conditions of the country, our private sector is capable of bringing the country to what is desired in the seventh five-year plan, which is an eight percent [economic] growth; that is, observing this work that is being done and the movement that is taking place truly gives one hope that we can achieve the desired growth.

A fundamental point in what I observed at the exhibition and in the summary of the speeches made by the gentlemen is the issue of innovation. Innovation does not come from just anyone; it can only be generated by elite human resources, and we have this immense wealth in our country. Now some countries in our region claim that they want to become, for example, the x-th economy of the world by a certain year! One cannot become the x-th economy of the world just with money; human resources are necessary; where are your human resources? They do not have them. What can traverse difficult paths and elevate the country to its peak is, first and foremost, capable and elite human resources; in this regard, we have a tremendous wealth. As far as I know and as I am aware, fewer countries around us possess this wealth and this blessing as much as we do. It can be assured that this immense capacity we have—referring to the immense capacity of human resources—can provide several times more benefit to the country than the current situation and can resolve major issues of the country.

There are some major issues in the country that we do not pay attention to their magnitude. The issue of water is a major issue for the country; the imbalance of water is a fundamental problem and dilemma. The issue of fuel is the same; we currently have a real problem with fuel. How can we, a country that produces oil, import gasoline with all these underground oil resources? What does this mean? It means we are facing a major problem in this regard. The issue of electricity is the same. There are various issues that are major issues for the country, and the imbalance in these issues causes suffering for the country and prevents many significant works from being accomplished. Our private sector can truly help in these areas, just as you heard now. The fact that the private sector comes and, for example, produces 1800 megawatts of electricity with a solar power plant is a very good thing. A private sector entity comes, invests, and produces 1800 megawatts of electricity; this is very valuable for the country. If we encourage these, if we help them, if proper planning is done, certainly the private sector can both provide ideas in these major programs and take action. This is our message to the esteemed officials and to you, the economic activists of the private sector.

The scope for participation is, of course, very broad; now you have heard a little here, I [also] saw more of it at the exhibition yesterday. This group that is present here, which is active in various sectors, if each of you speaks a little, it will become clear that the areas for participation are very wide. From large industries like oil, gas, and steel to, for example, handicrafts; in all these broad areas, there is the possibility for public participation; the investments of the people, the minds of the people, the capable hands of the people, the active and innovative fingers of the people can be activated and work [which will result in] a lot of employment and less poverty. Therefore, these broad areas exist; however, both government agencies must feel responsible, and the economic activists themselves must feel responsible; that is, responsibility is necessary from both sides.

What I have noted as the responsibility of the government to mention today—since there has been extensive discussion on these matters before—is the issue of improving the business environment. The main point is that the government must remove obstacles. Last year, in this very session, I mentioned some obstacles to improving the business environment; this year, when we spoke with economic activists at this exhibition—of which I think there were nearly forty booths here—some of them expressed dissatisfaction, and I saw that their dissatisfaction was from the same things that were previously pointed out! Well, it becomes clear that [those recommendations] have not been implemented. They must be implemented; my emphatic request from the government officials is to follow up on this.

Of course, government support is necessary, and government oversight is also necessary. There are regulations that must be adhered to; who must ensure compliance? The government. Therefore, government oversight is absolutely non-negotiable; however, oversight is different from interference. I heard yesterday that in some companies where the government and the private sector are partners, even though the government's share is not large, management is in the hands of the government; to me, this does not make sense. They should use the same legal methods, entrust management to the people and the shareholders of the companies, but oversight must be maintained. In recent years, after I issued the policies of Article 44 (of the Constitution) and insisted on and pursued them, we have seen irregularities that occurred due to lack of oversight. Bad things happened, wrong things happened; both the currency and monetary resources were harmed, and the enterprises themselves were harmed, and ultimately the people were harmed; a number of individuals took advantage. Government oversight is essential, necessary, and must definitely be carried out. Therefore, what we deny is government interference; otherwise, we consider government oversight necessary.

Some of the obstacles we mentioned that should be removed are related to the government itself; that is, they stem from our existing bureaucratic conditions that must be resolved within the government. Now it has been pointed out that, for example, three years of negotiation is required for a permit to operate in the upstream oil sector! I do not understand the logic of why three years of negotiation [is necessary]. Well, a foreign company comes, they sit down and conclude a contract within a few months, and it is done; why should it take so long to conclude a contract with a domestic enterprise that wants to work in the oil sector with this importance, especially in the upstream sectors and to extract or revive wells and carry out the necessary work? This is a question for us. Or multiple decision-making centers, or conflicts between sectors. Some time ago, I received complaints from some individuals active in the mining sector that, for example, conflicts arise between the mining sector and the environment regarding a project they want to undertake; well, this conflict must be resolved. The mining sector is an important sector; at one point, I spoke with the esteemed official that the mining sector could truly replace oil altogether; well, it is clear how significant oil is for the country. If we address the country's mines—some of which are rare and sometimes unique in the world—if these are attended to, extracted, and worked on, it would be very wealth-generating for the country and would help advance the country. Now, suppose someone wants to work on a mine, and an obstacle arises from one side; these must be resolved within the government; that is, some of the problems and obstacles are related to the government itself, which must be resolved there; with the decision-making of the esteemed President and consultation in the Cabinet and the management of the esteemed First Vice President, these must be resolved.

Some obstacles are related to outside the government; such as the judiciary, armed forces, and so on, where conflicts arise. In my opinion, the heads of the branches can address this in the session that has been given authority and can do a lot of work and make many decisions; they can raise this issue and resolve it. Now, if it is not resolved, at least keep the leadership informed and resolve it; resolve the problems and conflicts, and let the way be opened. This, of course, is part of the responsibilities of the government.

The private sector, as I mentioned, must also truly recognize its responsibilities. Discipline, adherence to necessary regulations, compliance with the law, and integrity in work are among the main duties; the private sector must certainly adhere to these, and the government must oversee.

The esteemed gentleman who spoke about financing has occupied my mind more in this regard. I noted that we rely on the growth of liquidity; that is, liquidity growth must be stopped, as efforts have been made, and it has had some effect, and liquidity growth has decreased. One of the problems of the country is liquidity growth. Well, when we turn to contractionary policies in this regard, naturally, the resources that banks provide to economic activists become limited; how do we manage this limitation so that it does not harm small and medium enterprises, which are fundamentally the backbone of the economy—meaning the broadest sector of activity belongs to medium and small enterprises? This requires management; this is one of the important tasks that, of course, the main responsible entity is the Central Bank; the work must be managed in such a way that it is not the case that the limited resources that banks are supposed to provide are taken by state-owned companies or specific companies—companies whose individuals are more clever, more agile, and have more connections—this must not happen. This requires management; that is, true adherence to justice is necessary here.

If, God willing, these are adhered to, I believe our capacity for economic advancement is very high; in the true sense of the word, our capacity is very high. Our country is truly a wealthy country; we have both natural wealth and human wealth, and we have a connection between the government and the nation. The government must help. One of the ways the government can assist is in the area of exports and foreign markets. The work that major companies and large enterprises in the world do is done with the backing of their governments; governments help them, open the way; if they encounter a problem—whether legal or financial—the governments assist them. One of the things the government must do is this; that is, economic diplomacy is a joint effort, part of which pertains to the private economic sector, and part of which pertains to the official diplomatic apparatus of the country that must pursue this matter.

In any case, I am pleased and satisfied with the current situation of the private sector; more effort must be made, and the private sector, investors, and entrepreneurs of the country must be able to play a role for the future of the country, for the economic advancement of the country, and, God willing, bring the economic situation to order.

Of course, we have external problems, we have sanctions, we have various hostilities, but these can also become opportunities for us. Yesterday, one of the gentlemen at the exhibition told me that we were sanctioned, and we managed to achieve self-sufficiency; we were threatened, and we managed to achieve security. This is a correct point; although sanctions are damaging and undoubtedly create problems, they can also be used as an opportunity; just as our country, our youth, our people, and our economic activists have utilized in some areas and we have made scientific progress. If they had sold us weapons, we would not have reached the level we have today in terms of armaments. If they had not separated our satellites from space one by one and deprived us of space satellites, we would not have, for example, sent the “Surayya” satellite into space; that is, we would not have needed it; it was there. Those sanctions enabled us to accomplish these tasks. God willing, we will be able to utilize these opportunities more and more every day. May God grant you success. I will also pray for you.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.