Tehran, Iran, May 15
Trend:
Iranian government plans to change the structure of Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade by dividing it up to separate ministries however many have opposed the move.
Ali Shariati, member of Iran's Chamber of Commerce discussed this government's plan in an interview with Trend.
"Years ago, when Iran had its highest oil revenues, the law to separate duties of Ministry of Agriculture from Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade created many problems for businessmen," he said.
"The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for trade in agricultural sector, according to this law. The situation however did confuse the trading and work of agriculture sector, at the time which was assigned to Ministry of Commerce, created problem for farmers," Shariati said.
"The Government Trading Corporation of Iran for example had two sections - one was part of Ministry of Agriculture and the other under the Ministry of Commerce's supervision, and this inflicted heavy cost for the entire country," he said.
Shariati noted that everyone say that the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2019) will be the hardest economic year for the country, and the plan to divide the ministry won't be productive.
"Dividing requires expertise efforts, automation and changing the entire system, it would be a waste of time for businessmen, and the final result will turn out to be weak," he believes.
"Right now isn't the proper time to do this," Shariati said.
"The mining sector has agreed to this separation since it feels restless, if we see the bigger picture and the plan is prosecuted well it would be profitable, but now is not the time and it would fail with heavy costs," he said.