According to the International Iranian Stone Exhibition, about six months since last year, but still the year has not taken on the color and smell of "production leap" as it should; This is one of the few things that happens between the proponents and the opponents of the government, but each of them has its own reasons for not fulfilling the slogan of the year so far; A slogan that, if realized, would solve many living, economic, social, etc. problems, but it seems that there were many obstacles to the realization of this slogan, some of which do not require such laws and decisions.

In this regard, Majid Reza Hariri, Chairman of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce, who has been working for years to expand trade cooperation between Iran and other countries, has critical views for not fulfilling the slogan of the year, some of which criticize the government and others The country knows.

Question: Six months of last year, which is designated as the leap in production, economists and industry owners believe that the slogan of the year has not been fulfilled yet. In your opinion, in the remaining six months, what solution do you propose to achieve this? ?

Majid Reza Hariri: As everyone knows, the slogan of the year has had an economic approach during the last ten years; Items such as economic jihad, national production and protection of Iranian labor and capital, economic epic, resistance economy, action and action, resistance economy, production and employment, production boom and finally production leap indicate the priority of economy and production in the country; These names are due to the fact that we have realized that what needs to be solved fundamentally is economics, but the point is that in none of these years in the last decade have the goals of the slogan of the year been properly achieved. . This shows that just naming years is not enough to solve the country's economic problems, and governments must set goals in order to solve the country's economic problems along the lines of the slogan of the year and implement these slogans throughout each year; The realization of a slogan, especially the slogans of recent years, requires that the country's macroeconomic system and complex work like a gear in order to see the product and its result. One of the factors influencing economic growth is that policies In all matters, we must be in the direction of achieving a boom in production and removing barriers to production, and then further exports. As long as politics and politics have overshadowed the economy, one cannot expect a "leap in production."

Question: Some people consider Corona as the main reason for not fulfilling the slogan of the year. To what extent do you think this issue has affected Iran's economy?

Majid Reza Hariri: Corona has had a serious impact not only on Iran's economy but also on the world economy and its effects can not be ignored, but it is important to note that countries whose economy is based on the production of raw materials such as energy, oil and gas or other items Mineral and non-metallic minerals, or even managed on the basis of agricultural production, have suffered the least damage from the corona; In other words, the corona hit hardest countries whose economies were based on transit-based services or whose tourism industry flourished; Accordingly, it can still be said that Iran, since it does not have a service-based economy and its economy is based on energy production and raw materials and its sale to the world, is almost less affected by the corona, and unlike countries like China, it suffers the most. Of course, it should be noted that the corona has affected our domestic economy because retail turnover is often disrupted and these small businesses have suffered. But the remarkable point is that in the year of the leap in production, the production of domestic products was even lower than last year, and this issue cannot be blamed on the corona.

Question: What has been the role of international restrictions for Iran in achieving the "leap of production" and could the government use these restrictions with a management in order to fulfill the slogan of the year?

Majid Reza Hariri: International sanctions against Iran are very severe and it should be borne in mind that if it were not for Corona, we would not have a good economy this year and we would have had more difficult economic conditions than last year, just like in 1397 and previous years. It was not for production in the country and the country's statistics confirm this both in the field of production and in the field of export. Until the policies of the country's economy change, sanctions and the corona will be excuses for underemployment.

Question: So you know the obstacles first from the economic structure of the country and then the sanctions and then the corona?

Majid Reza Hariri: Yes; If our economy was a strong economy, it would not be sanctioned in the first stage, and in the next stages, sanctions could not paralyze the country's economy; This is the path that the enemy has taken over the weaknesses of the country's economy in recent years, and we have had problems through these weaknesses. If we had a strong economy, connected and fused with international economies, they could not easily boycott us and we could even increase production. If international investors were producing in our country or Iran had production units in other countries, then no one would be subject to oppressive sanctions against our country. If we had billions of foreign capital in our economy, if our economy was active abroad, if we had economic interaction with various international brands and those brands were present in our country and produced their products here and to the world They would sell, if there was this international cooperation, our economy would not be so easily sanctioned.

Question: In the years when we were not under sanctions, the country's economy had many problems, so it cannot be said that all economic problems are under sanctions.

Majid Reza Hariri: Yes, even in the years when there were no sanctions, we did not have a prosperous economy, and this goes back to the country's economic infrastructure, which, of course, the governments did not have a serious decision to reform; Cumbersome and sometimes wrong structures and laws in the country's economy, along with the desire of governments to seek sanity, is the main problem of the country's economy, and in these circumstances, sanctions and coronations have become the second and third reasons for not fulfilling the slogan of the year.

Question: Following your words, if we created foreign markets, for example, in neighboring countries, we could hope to increase production.

Majid Reza Hariri: I do not believe in having only the market of neighboring countries; You see, considering that foreign goods are not found in the country's market these days, but some foreign brands in the field of, for example, cosmetics offer their products in the country without restrictions, this is due to foreign investment in the country and it is natural if Several foreign car companies were investing in our country and launching one of their car manufacturing sites in Iran. Now our market had no problem in accessing the products of these companies. Contrary to popular belief, the government was not successful in attracting foreign investors. Monopolies that have arisen in the country and are in the hands of a limited number do not provide production opportunities for either foreigners or locals. Monopolies prevail in every guild and yet there is no place for competition. On the other hand, we see that the rate of economic corruption in the country is also high. This economic corruption causes a waste of many resources and causes irreparable damage.

Question: So two points were raised: corruption and lack of competitiveness that have caused production to not grow as it should.

Majid Reza Hariri: Yes, and these two factors are the result of lack of transparency in our economy; In a transparent economy, the possibility of corruption is greatly reduced, and on the other hand, the competition of production units increases, which will result in more and better product production; I believe that ninety percent of the problems in our economy are related to lack of transparency. These days, the criticism of the banks and the Tehran Stock Exchange is due to the lack of transparency. The cases of economic corruption that you see are due to the lack of transparency in the country, which, along with the existence of various monopolies, has provided the ground for corruption, and in this way, some people have been able to confiscate the country's resources in their favor. That is why with such fields, the attractiveness of investing in the real production path in the country decreases.

Question: The argument that producers are making these days is that because there is no economic stability in the market, we prefer not to engage our capital in production.

Majid Reza Hariri: Most of those who say that are all parts of a corrupt economy and they are lying. If the economy was transparent, half of these people would not be able to participate in the economy, whether they produce or export, that is, those who complain and justify the non-realization of "production" are the same people who export their currency to the official market after export. They do not return, and this is another damage to the country's economy and a cause of instability. These people themselves have used rent many times and sometimes complain in the same way.

Question: So with this account, the general system of our economy, production is not at the center and priority?

Majid Reza Hariri: At present, not only production but nothing else is a priority for the country's economy, and those who are responsible run the economy in line with their personal and factional interests. The behavior of the government does not indicate that the priority of this government is the economy and even the "leap of production" or even services. If the economy is transparent, production and economic development will find their own way, although industrial production in a specific sense is not necessarily suitable for every country, and the fields of production in the country should be examined and the "production leap" should be based on a specific plan. To take. In the healthy economies of the world, less than a third of it is involved in industry and production.

Question: What is the amount of production in our country?

Majid Reza Hariri: Non-oil production, which is almost non-existent in our country; Production is a global category, but its alphabet has not been arranged in our country yet; Although assembly is also part of production; For example, none of the major car brands produce their required parts themselves, but each part is produced in one country. In fact, even assembly can be considered production, and this includes our country. The concept of production at present does not only include the production of goods but also an important share of production is value-added production and services (tourism transit). It is natural that a country cannot produce everything on its own, just as large economic countries do not.

* Tasnim