On the occasion of National Government week, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, met with the President and his cabinet (the 12th administration members) this morning on August 26, 2017.
In this meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei regarded the economic situation and welfare of people as the most important issue and stressed, "The economic orientation of the country needs to evolve from the 'oil and rentier economy' to 'productive and popular economy.' "
Additionally, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution gave the following 12 recommendations to Mr. Rouhani's administration:
1. Maintaining an intention of working for the sake of God when serving the people and resolving their problems, as well as staying close to Quran and supplications.
2. It is necessary to keep a spirit of working hard and selflessly.
3. Cooperation among members of the cabinet and boosting team work.
4. Tolerance towards opposing voices and embracing criticisms.
5. Maintaining a close relationship with people to better understand the realities of their lives.
6. Strengthening a spirit of humbly interacting with the public and avoiding aristocracy.
7. Assisting popular movements.
8. Looking for efficiency, religiosity, revolutionary spirit, perseverance and self-less endeavor when choosing staff.
9. Monitoring and supervising the subset.
10. Keeping a precise, well-organized and scientific plan.
11. Maintaining a risk-taking spirit while working.
12. Focusing on main priorities.
In another part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei mentioned the economy as the real priority of the country, and he said that the economy should be a priority for all members and sectors of the government, emphasizing the sustained efforts of the authorities to solve the subsistence problems of the people, including youth unemployment. He went on to say: "The statistics presented on the economy are based on scientific methods; these statistics, however, do not fully reflect the true status of the country and the lives of the people everywhere--so, here, there is a problem that must be identified and solved."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stated, "According to these statistics, inflation has dropped from some percent in the tens (above 20) to below 10 percent, but has the purchasing power of people and the value of national currency risen on the same scale?"
Ayatollah Khamenei remarked in another example: "The announced statistics are also true for the recession, but there are still many small and medium-sized units that are working under their capacity or are shut down, and this fact reveals that there is something wrong, which needs to be addressed."
His Eminence considered the issues of banks, investment, liquidity growth, and smuggling as important factors of the economy and emphasized: "Officials who have a direct relationship with the economy in the government should decide, and act as an integrated team, and others should help them."
He called for special attention to seriously combat economic corruption, problems villagers face, managing imports and exports, and territorial logistics. He then pointed out: "There has been a lot of work on the territorial logistics of provinces, but for the country's territorial logistics, we still do not have adequate documentation. A time schedule needs to be prepared for elaboration and implementation of this important document."
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized on the necessity of changing the country's economic orientation from an "oil and rentier economy" to a "productive and popular economy." "We must rid the economy of oil, and this important goal is achievable when considering the country’s facilities, capacities and manpower; just as some non-oil countries have achieved this goal," he said.
In another part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei called on preserving the revolutionary and religious orientation, and the spirit of diplomacy; which he regarded as important, stressing, "Within diplomatic issues, we should be proud of our revolution and our national norms--the norms derived from Revolution, such as resistance against arrogance, combatting oppression."
Opening an umbrella of diplomacy over the entire world rather than concentrating on relations with a limited number of countries, were other points made by the leader of the revolution on foreign policy.
He added, "In the realm of diplomacy, you must be agile, up-to-date, quick and vigilant; and with God’s grace and mercy, in the future, like in the past, progress and stand against the enemies."
Towards the end of the speech, Zuhr and Asr prayers were performed and led by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
The full text of the speech will soon be uploaded on the website.
