According to the International Iranian Stone Exhibition, in the year named "Production, Supports and De-barriers", efforts to remove barriers to production and activate the country's production capacity are of particular importance. In this regard, the accurate and correct opinion of the officials and their advisors can be a way forward and to a large extent provide the ground for the economic growth of the country. In this regard, we have talked with Arman Khaleghi, a member of the board of directors of the House of Industry, Mines and Commerce, which you can read below:

In a year called "Production, Support, and Disruption", if you were an adviser to the president, what would you suggest to reform the country's economy?

Khaleghi: What should at least be remembered by this government is to start providing accurate statistics and information. Other than that, the government can do nothing. If it can produce accurate, accurate and accessible information to the public and instill the good tradition that people are not illegitimate and are supposed to be informed of information in a documented and transparent manner, this is the greatest thing the government can do at the end of its life. . Statistics and information are actually the compass for doing things better. If this compass is set correctly for the country's economy, it will be the best legacy the government leaves. In this way, in addition to removing barriers, better production support will be provided.

 In which areas should this happen the most?

Creator: It has to happen in all areas. From wheat production to the products we export. It is important to have the right information that can be analyzed and worked on. For example, as soon as we know how much wheat the country needs this year, how much we should import in this field, or how much we should use wheat, the accounts and workbooks of people related to this issue will come into play. For example, when importers find out how much wheat they need to import into the country, they may cancel some imports and eventually the country's foreign exchange resources will not be wasted. Lack of transparency wastes resources in the country.

 What part should be specifically more active to create this transparency?

Khaleghi: The focus of this work is on the Statistics Center of Iran, and we must take this center more seriously. This center should be active with more resources and organizations are obliged to respond to this center and provide specialized information to this center in a timely manner. It is important to know how much of each production line in the country and with what capacity. , How much raw materials they need and how much product they produce. Once this information is available, we can more easily decide how to meet the needs of the country. In these circumstances, the investor is more likely to invest. Or in agriculture, it is determined what products we need and in which sectors we have shortages.

If all this is put together, we can plan according to our abilities. Now the reason we grow onions for a year and potatoes for a year is the lack of information. In fact, we do not have a comprehensive and intelligent program and a comprehensive management system. This system is based on numbers and figures. For example, we know in what month of what year, how much we have to register an order for import, and based on this, some actions are allowed.

 Apart from this, what other proposals do you have for reforming the country's economy?

Khaleghi: Unfortunately, all the opportunities of the government have been lost and nothing very special can be done in the remaining months of the current government. I do not know if anything special can be done in this distance. This must happen if the country's international relations are to improve and as a result of these relations we will become infamous even in the history of the country. We should not look for a name and permanence too much. If the government does something that is in the national interest, it should do it, even if it is notorious for it. The government must recognize and do this.

 What about privatization? Governments always chant slogans in this direction, but nothing special and acceptable happens. However, if this is done properly, it will increase productivity, improve the economic situation and reform some structures. What can be suggested in this regard?

Khaleghi: In the case of privatization, there have been cases of lack of transparency and violations, which has caused this issue to be extended to all privatizations. For example, we say that if a company was transferred at a bargain price and the party sold the raw materials and machinery in the factory and divided the land and sold it, it was not privatization and it was destruction. Yes, this is true, but if we do not maneuver on successful privatizations, it will make us think about privatization, where everyone is waiting to get factories for free and make money.

The positive performance of the private sector is not seen in some units. Each case and each project has its own story. We cannot say that all privatizations are the same and that everyone must be successful. In privatization, each project needs a solution and a prescription for success, depending on its justification and its history and current situation. Competent people should be selected to manage these units and the investor should be able to finance.

Sometimes we see that a state-owned company is similar to a private company with an active surplus and has been forced to hire due to orders from the government, which does not allow the factory to be profitable to produce. But if such a unit is privatized, its production will be profitable.

 What suggestions can be made to improve the privatization situation?

Khaleghi: In privatization, we are somewhat captivated by emotions and we are chanting slogans. In the case of privatization, there must be a task and transparency. Pricing that takes place in privatization, or should take place where several groups price in parallel, and finally, the definitive rate is determined, if it is suitable for the investor, he will enter and invest, if it is not justified, he will not enter.

The terms of the assignment, the price of the assignment, the facilities provided to the applicant must also be motivating. These matters should be determined by a board that is more knowledgeable than the current board, so that they can understand the terms and the buyer must fulfill the terms of the contract properly, committed to both transforming the plan and making it profitable and providing employment. Even if the power adjustment was to be in accordance with the approved technical plan.

Once these are identified, privatization will be successful. To say that all privatizations should be done through the stock exchange does not mean anything special. We should not get excited and say, for example, that if a plan is given to three people, it is wrong, but if it has a thousand shareholders, it is right; In order to satisfy the people. If we are to act like communist countries, we must hand over the companies to the entire Iranian nation. The result is that the factory shares are so fragmented that it will not be possible to appoint a good board of directors, and again the authority falls into the hands of the government, such as Iran Khodro or Saipa.

 What should be done about the sabotage of banks in providing facilities for production and the growth of brokerage in this regard? Are there any statistics that show how many production units were supposed to be set up or developed, but were faced with stone-throwing banks?

Khaleghi: There are no specific statistics in this regard. The statistics that can be obtained are the statistics that can be extracted from the optimization system, because it determines what requests have been referred to the bank. There are many units that have such a problem. When banks' resources are limited to the manufacturing sector and everyone wants to have access to it, corruption seeps into the sector.

In the case of banking facilities, corruption starts from the very first step. For example, as soon as they accept a plan, a group of brokers are found to write a justification plan or take a percentage of the loan and confirm the receipt of the facility. They set tariffs and, for example, receive 4, 5 or 7% of the loan in the very first stage of loan repayment, and say that if you do not, the next payments will be stopped.

 Is this request made only orally or may it be mentioned in some way in the contracts?

Creator: No, it is presented orally. This issue is raised by brokers.

 Are these brokers finally connected to the same bank?

Creator: If they are not, the work will not go on. After all, there are connections, otherwise how do they know someone is looking for a loan? They are in this cycle. From the moment you go to the Ministry of Industry to apply for a loan, you get offers that you have to pay to introduce you to the bank. We hope this does not happen now. After being introduced to the bank, there were a series of people in the bank who accepted the applicants' plan. The tariff received by the brokers varied according to the type of loan and the repayment period. Because the restrictions were so great, corruption has taken shape.

Bank experts have a taste and with a superficial objection or excuse, cancel or stop the loan payment or a similar case is simply paid, because there are no rules and tastes are paid, there is even a law regulating part of the government's financial regulations in the year It was passed in 2002 or 2003, where banks were required to use the services of classified consulting engineering companies, but the banks did not do so and acted arbitrarily.

When we refer to the credit department of a bank, that department has several experts who comment on various industrial and mining projects and do not specialize in them. This can cause problems. They may lend more than they need to a project, the other party can not complete the project and the project collapses, or it withdraws money from the project, the bank can not get its money back and the treasury is damaged. Such things happen too. What matters is that in-house supervision in banks needs to be more precise.

Banks should also look into why a customer applied to a bank for a loan but failed to receive one. We have never seen a bank come to a customer and ask why you could not get a loan when you applied for the facility. In this case, a report should be prepared and a pathology should be performed so that the bank understands why a loan has not been paid to a customer. This is not important for the bank itself, and if one customer does not succeed, the next customer will stand in line.

He does not care about the quality of the services he provides, there is no such thing as after-sales service for banking services. It is only at this point that a device is placed inside the branch and they ask if you were satisfied with the service or not. They just ask yes or no and no pathology is done. Is there such a thing as a facility for recipients to be asked if they are satisfied with our services or not? Unfortunately, this is not the case, and the banks treat the customer as they wish, and then there is the sound of large-scale corruption, and the question arises as to how, with all this rigor, a large loan is repaid without collateral and inquiry, but very strict for small loans. Becoming.

 The Production Facilitation Headquarters had approvals regarding the repayment of facilities in the industrial sector during the last year. Have these approvals been implemented?

Khaleghi: Some approvals have been made and recently the extent and manner of implementation of the approvals of the headquarters has been examined. Some facilitation staff approvals require upstream approvals; For example, the Central Bank issued a directive late last year on the debts of production units with current debts, which extended the deadline for repaying these debts until the end of September 1400.

 How much support is given to knowledge-based companies and industries that use the help of these companies, and to what extent does the Vice President for Science and Technology pay attention to these issues to support and encourage craftsmen to move towards increasing the localization of their products and thus Instead of taking foreign currency loans from the National Development Fund, should they buy machines from inside the country?

Khaleghi: The issue of knowledge-based is a relatively new development, but it is still going well, and the Vice President for Science and Technology has taken good steps in this regard. What is worrying right now is that a company that is not knowledge-based will impersonate itself as knowledge-based. This issue needs to be taken care of in order to preserve the dignity of knowledge-based companies. Sometimes they may have the advantage of raising an issue in the country and drawing attention to it; For example, provide low-utility facilities, pardon fines or tax deferrals, or impose a series of tax exemptions. When such benefits are considered, everyone tries to match themselves with these incentives to include them, we must be careful about this. It seems that so far it has not been bad and some companies have been able to obtain a knowledge-based license. Some knowledge-based companies are also being formed with the presence of university professors, the commercialization process of which takes some time, but if a bridge is established between knowledge-based companies and industrial companies, the success rate will be determined there.

 To what extent is this ring formed?

Creator: There is a missing link in this area that requires a mechanism. This partnership happens hard because knowledge is in the hands of one person and capital is in the hands of another. It does not turn to knowledge-based companies until it is assured to the owner of the capital. We must first do something to ensure that this is done, a guarantee must be made that the investor can be trusted, and that technical knowledge must be used as a new technology to make a profit. If there is a government guarantee, it will be a good incentive, and how the distribution of interests and even the distribution of intellectual property in the contracts concluded between these companies should be well seen so that the rights of none of them are lost.

 Is there no guarantee at the moment?

Khaleghi: It is more about legal protections. It is important to discuss the technical knowledge and determine its price. Technical knowledge must be converted into the intellectual and financial rights of a technical knowledge, and technical knowledge must be priced through a formal mechanism. This is a very important issue. At the same time, a figure should be specified for technical knowledge and recorded in the contracts along with the investor. Also, the owners of the capital should be able to find the owners of technical knowledge and there should be a place to meet each other to reach a deal and a partnership.

 Has such a thing been pursued in the Ministry of Industry?

Khaleghi: The Vice President for Technology has done some work in this field, but this idea must be put into shape, and it must still be worked on.