Chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Mohsen Jalalpour says growth in the industrial and mining sectors calls for improvement in market competitiveness and transparency with help from both private and government sectors.
He made the remark at a ceremony to commemorate the Industries and Mining Day last week, which was attended by First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri and Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, IRNA reported.
"High value-added tax, failure to inject revenues generated from implementing Subsidy Reform Plan to the manufacturing sector, banks' refusal to reschedule the manufacturers' debts and restrictions on international banking transactions" were mentioned by Jalalpour as the main challenges currently faced by the industrial sector.
The ICCIMA head also called on government officials to focus on fighting corruption and smuggling, noting that the industrial sector could benefit more from a curb on smuggling than from receiving government subsidies.
He criticized the former administration led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for "mishandling the privatization of state-owned companies", noting that "many companies were transferred to unqualified individuals or entities".
