Baku, Azerbaijan, March 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that economic goals set out by the Islamic Republic failed to be met.
"Unfortunately the motto of 'economic epic' did not materialize in the current year," the Mehr News Agency reported on March 11.
The supreme leader stated that the "political epic" came true, but unfortunately the "economic epic" was delayed.
The implementation of resistant economy policies should be a prologue to the materialization of the "economic epic," he added.
"Officials should pay more attention to the issue of improving consumption patterns and avoiding extravagancy."
On Feb. 19, Ayatollah Khamenei outlined the general policies of the program to promote the "economy of resistance," which can lead the Iranian nation to victory in "the imposed economic war" with the West.
The leader called the Western sanctions againstIran "a full-fledged economic war" and said that the Islamic Republic is determined to force the West to retreat.
Under the program the government must take action to expand the production and exportation of knowledge-based products, increase domestic production of strategic goods, and develop markets in neighboring countries.
It also encourages greater privatization and increased exports of electricity, gas, petrochemicals, and oil byproducts instead of crude oil and other raw materials.
In a meeting with Iranian laborers in April 2013, the supreme leader described the constant change of economic policies, reliance on inexpert opinions, and trust in the imposed economic theories of the West and the East as harmful.
"Economic policies should be based on the economy of resistance," the leader stated. "'The economy of resistance' is a kind of economy which enjoys a firm and solid infrastructure and which does not waver in the face of different changes in the world."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says various institutions under the administration are now bound to carry out the "resistance of economy" plan, which has been outlined by the supreme leader to counter sanctions of the West.
The administration would work with the other branches of government to achieve objectives of the plan, Rouhani said.
Edited by C.N.