President Mohammad Khatami and members of his Cabinet convened in the presence of the Grand Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on Sunday, May 15.
The meeting was held with the intention of finalizing the decisions that were made and the projects which were envisioned during the Leader's tour of Kerman Province.
Speaking at the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed his gratitude to the faithful, sincere and dedicated residents of Kerman Province. He stressed that the problems facing the province, which is very rich in mineral and human resources, should be resolved through proper planning, determination and greater efforts.
The Leader called on the Management and Planning Organization and other related state organs to make every effort to carry out the decisions made and the plans foreseen during his visit to Kerman Province based on a definite timetable. He also called on the province's governor-general to follow up on those decisions with concrete measures.
Further in his statements, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed his gratitude to the government and the officials in charge of reconstructing the earthquake-stricken city of Bam in Kerman Province and described the measures taken with regard to this city as extensive and laudable.
"However, the results of the measures so far taken are not yet tangible in the everyday lives of the city's inhabitants. Therefore, more efforts should be made so that the residents of Bam may feel the effects of your measures on their everyday lives," Ayatollah Khamenei told the officials in charge of the city's reconstruction.
The Leader referred to the problems facing the women who were widowed, the children who were orphaned and those people who were injured or physically disabled by the devastative earthquake that hit the city of Bam, the problems of shopkeepers and businessmen, the need to build schools and other educational centers and the management of the city's cultural affairs as some of the important issues that require immediate attention.
"The pace of the Bam's reconstruction should be accelerated by the government's special attention to this issue, and the support and assistance extended to the Bam's reconstruction headquarters should not be slowed down by the official routine," the Leader instructed the officials.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei described as quite urgent the taking of appropriate measures to extend assistance to the residents of the provincial city of Zarand, who were also affected by an earthquake. He emphasized that the government should take the issue of making buildings resistant to earthquakes very seriously, so that the residents of earthquake-prone regions throughout the country may feel secure in their homes.
Among other issues that were underlined by the Leader of the Islamic Republic in his meeting with President Khatami and his Cabinet were making incessant efforts to eliminate deprivation from various parts of Kerman Province, redressing the negative effects of the long-term drought in the province and combating the insecurities caused by bandits and smugglers in some provincial regions.
Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed out that it is necessary for the plans and projects envisioned during his tour of Kerman Province to come on stream while the present government is still holding office, so that the next government may be able to follow through on those plans and projects.
President Khatami, also speaking at the meeting, considered the Leader's guidelines about issues such as making residential areas resistant to earthquakes and the elimination of deprivation as a basis and groundwork for national plans and projects to achieve these objectives.
He noted that the decisions that were made in the course of the Leader's tour of Kerman Province will soon be carried into effect by the present government in order to enable the next government to carry them to completion.