The government is intent on reviving the forsaken export incentives policy to help stimulate non-oil exports that can be replaced with susceptible traditional exports of oil and oil-based commodities, First Vice President, Es’haq Jahangiri said on Sunday.
“President Hassan Rouhani and the government are resolute to support non-oil exports. A new comprehensive directive is in the making for the revival of export incentives and the required fund will be provided accordingly,” he said in a meeting with exporters, which was also attended by a Foreign Minister Mohammad- Javad Zarif, Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh and Head of the Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif.
Ever since export incentives were put on hold in 2011, calls have been growing for the government to revive the policy and provide companies and exporters with support to spur export.
“The government has an indispensible duty to remove any obstacles in the way of exporters,” Jahangiri said, noting that “complex bureaucratic procedures” are undermining the government’s attempts to deal with the problem.
He urged officials to support and give a priority to exports of non-oil commodities.
Hope for Nuclear Deal
The first vice president expressed hope that Iran will be able to reach a fair nuclear settlement with the West “under the framework drawn by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei”.
“It is acknowledged worldwide that Iran is the center of stability in the region, and it is only through Iran’s key contribution that the region can be spared from terrorist groups such as the IS,” he added, warning the West against attempts to sabotage a nuclear deal.
After nearly a year of talks, Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) failed for a second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline to reach a long-tem settlement to resolve the decade-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program. They agreed to extend the talks until June 30 and negotiations are currently underway. They aim to reach a general agreement by March, which would pave the way for a final pact and use the remaining time to finalize the details of the accord.
Meanwhile, Jahangiri further noted that Iran is prepared for the worst-case scenario in case the talks with the West end in failure.
Resistance Economy is Not Austerity
He further referred to ‘resistance economy’ as “a decent roadmap to development”, dismissing speculations that the policy amounts to austerity.
He described resistance economy as a tactic to safeguard the country against what he called “outside shocks such as sanctions”, noting that resistance economy is focused on both domestic capabilities and making use of “global capital and technologies”.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a decree on February 19, 2013, outlining the general policies of resistance economy. The decree encourages increased exports of electricity, gas, petrochemicals, and oil byproducts instead of crude oil and other raw materials, expansion of domestic production and exportation of knowledge-based products, and development of markets in neighboring countries.
Spurring Competition
The vice president also said that the government seeks to empower the agricultural and industrial sectors in a bid to give them a competitive edge.
“Industrial companies are national assets, so if they are weakened our national interests will be at stake,” he said
In separate remarks, Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif said that Iranian embassies across the world are ready to support Iranian businessmen in their trade with foreign countries.
A group of Iranian exporters and businessmen who were also present at the meeting called on the government to take necessary steps in support of exports, pertaining to banking guarantees, preferential tariffs with certain African countries and providing adequate infrastructure for exports.
