TEHRAN - Referring to the Supreme Leader’s naming of the new year as the year of “Resistive Economy; Production and Employment”, he stressed more efforts for boosting production and increasing employment.

He added: “We are determined to make a great move in employment by boosting production to witness increased welfare and improvements in people’s lives”.

Dr Rouhani continued: “The new year means the beginning of a new growth and prosperity. Although one can feel the greatness and power of God in all seasons, spring has a special glory”.

“The message of spring is that the hardship of winter and cold will finish one day and the spring of moderation begins, therefore, the message of spring for us is hope and life,” he continued.

President Rouhani also went on to say: “We all are alive with hope and if there is no hope, dynamism will have no meaning”.

He continued: “Imam Ali (AS), whose words and manners we are proud of, invites Muslims and Shias to integrity, interaction with relatives and more kindness; Nowruz is the day of interaction with relatives”.

Stressing that we have had social problems in the past and will have in the future, he said: “What is important is that we must not surrender to problems, but rather we must stand firm and try to resolve the problems”.

The path that the government has chosen to deal with social problems is correct and we will continue along this path, added Rouhani.

“In last year’s Nowruz message, we promised a 5-percent economic growth and today we have fulfilled that promise, anticipating that this year’s economic growth will be above 8 per cent,” Dr Rouhani continued.

He added: “The Iranian nation had wished for a single-digit inflation rate for years and today, the statistics centre announced that the 12-month inflation leading to march was 6.8%. These figures show that the path we have chosen is correct”.

Emphasising the need for more employment rate and job opportunities for the youth, Dr Rouhani said: “Although great efforts have been made to create jobs for the youth, it is not enough and there is a need to boost our efforts in this regard”.

“Some people ask what was the achievement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action? It is these people who should answer the question of if there was no JCPOA, what conditions we would have,” pointed out the President.

He added: “Today, our fleet of airliners is gradually renovating and still some are sad about it. These people called the contracts just a paper and now that the airliners have entered the country, undermine people’s happiness”.

Stating that the government does not claim to be able to resolve issues overnight, he said: “We believe that we must resolve the issues through consultation and collective logic”.

He also referred to the coming elections and expressed hope that people attend the elections in large numbers and we witness landmark elections in the country.