Further to its declared policy of economic decentralization, creating jobs in the countryside and improving the much-needed overall business climate, the Rouhani administration is strongly committed to promoting investments across the provinces, one of his senior aides said.
Mohammad Nahavandian, President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff in talks with business leaders and entrepreneurs in Zanjan province last week discussed ways and means to push ahead with the "roadmap for new investments" and encourage a pro-active role by the private sector in the northwestern region, the president's website reported.
Rouhani and his senior aides were in the province on a one-day tour to review economic and social developments in Zanjan. He addressed a large public rally and appealed for closer harmony across the social strata, the need for unity, exercising extra caution on the issue of "promoting virtue and preventing vice" and avoiding words and actions that could harm peace, tranquility and national development.
On the need to "reflect a clear and common goal for the future of the national economy," Nahavandian reemphasized the government's commitment to and belief in the early "implementation of a law calling for improving the business environment and curbing the bloated bureaucracy ratified by the Majlis in 2012.
Calling for a "stable and peaceful political and legal environment in the country", he noted that it is the "government's obligation to facilitate equal opportunity for Iranian businesses to enable them compete in global markets."
"The government also believes in clear and harmonious short and long-term development plans as a key factor" in attaining decent levels of growth, the presidential aide said, and expressed confidence that the government will succeed in ending the recession in the coming years. Nahavandian acknowledged that Zanjan has valuable experience in the mining industry and more recently is moving toward presenting itself as "an energy, IT and electronics hub, that in turn will help create jobs and expand the service sector.
He urged the prominent and influential business leaders to diversify their investments in the province, calling the investments "logical and reasonable" in view of the stability in the country compared to the crisis and chaos in other parts of the region.
Provincial officials were called upon to proceed in line with policies announced by the government with "transparency and coordination," and the aide gave renewed assurance that "promoting provincial investments is a priority of the president and his economic team."
