TEHRAN – Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani said developing the country’s domestic production must be seriously pursued whether the country is under sanctions or not, Shata reported.

Speaking in a gathering with directors and board members of the country’s large industrial and mining organizations and corporations on Monday, Rahmani said: “Our enemies expected the country’s industry sector to shut down under the pressure of the unjust sanctions, however, their plots did not work out and we are still standing strong.”

He mentioned some of the country’s improvements in the industry, mining and trade sector, saying license issuance for establishing industrial units across the country increased by 16.7 percent in the first eight months of the current calendar year (March 21- November 23).

According to the official, production of various vehicles including trucks and agricultural machinery also witnessed an increase in the mentioned period, while other sectors including textiles, yarns, home appliances, foodstuff, and leather stuff also experienced a rise in production.

“In this year’s first eight months, production in the food industry increased by 15 percent while production of crude steel increased by 6.5 percent, steel products by 6.6 percent, copper cathode by 13 percent, glass jar by 10.2 percent, and cement by 7.2 percent,” he said.

He further noted that the ministry is implementing 34 executive programs under seven major axes, for promoting domestic production across the country in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21).

According to Rahmani, the ministry’s programs mainly focus on developing and supporting domestic production, mining, and mining industry development, technology, business environment improvement, new strategies in trade logistics and financing, as well as expanding exports to the neighboring countries.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the minister stressed his ministry’s determination for reducing imports of domestically-made products in order to support the country’s producers and said industry ministry is determined to pursue its plans on boosting domestic production based on the country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (ends in March 2021) until it is able to save the country over $10 billion every year.

EF/MA