Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.16
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Industrial job growth rate in Iran has contracted by 36 percent, ISNA quoted Iranian industry minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh as saying on February 16.
Iran's stance in the world has been deteriorated in this regard, he added.
This is while the former Iranian administration had claimed to create 2.5 million jobs per year.
"The former administration had said that the international sanctions would not be effective. So, the sanctions were intensified. We were lying, while a Muslim should not lie."
We should collaborate with the world, Nematzadeh said, adding a number of delegations came to Iran to sell some components. But, they retreated, fearing that the situation in Iran might change after easing the sanctions.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Nematzadeh said 841 units had been operating in industrial parks across the country, but 649 of them have been shut down.
He criticized former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his ordered instructions which had negative effects. For instance, they implemented a plan dubbed Shabnam to combat smuggling, but the plan was proved to be ineffective.
Previously, ISNA cited latest statistics, reporting that job creation in Iran fell by 30 percent in the Iranian year 1390 (March 2011-March 2012).