TEHRAN — The Iranian parliament (Majlis) may discuss the possibility of altering weekend holidays from Thursday to Saturday, Mehr news agency reported.

Thursday and Friday have been the weekends in Iran and it’s been some time that experts and some authorities consider the idea of different weekends from almost the whole world is what is holding Iran’s economy back.

The bill was not approved by the social committee of the Majlis, MP Abolfazl Aboutorabi said, adding that 15 MPs have undersigned a request to the presiding board of the Majlis to discuss the proposed plan later in an open session. According to him, the four-day holiday difference with almost the whole world is causing difficulties for Iranians.

In 2007 Riyadh Summit, Aboutorabi said, Islamic countries have opt for Friday and Saturday for their weekends which decreases the differences to one day with the world.

For instance, he stated, pilgrims who travel to Iraq would face difficulties in case they need to refer to any of the offices from Thursday to Sunday.

Aboutorabi went on to say that too many holidays, particularly 13-day Noruz holidays (March 21 to April 2) is a deadly poison to the national economy and is identified as a business obstacle in the country which needs to be dealt with as well.

MQ/MG