TEHRAN - Iranian deputy industry, mining, and trade minister for industry affairs has said that completing semi-finished industrial projects and boosting the production of active units are the main goals of the ministry in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021).

“This year, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade has identified four axes as the priorities for its programs, one of which is completing semi-finished projects and increasing the production capacity of active units,” Shata quoted Mehdi Sadeqi Niaraki as saying.

According to Niaraki, the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry is implementing the “Persistent Production-Effective Employment-Sustainable Exports” program in the current year, based on which 200 industrial, mining, and trade projects valued at 1.7 quadrillion rials (about $40.47 billion) will be inaugurated across the country.

These projects will create direct job opportunities for 41,000 people, the official said.

The official also mentioned the ministry’s plans for reviving idle production units and said: "This program is being pursued with the focus on the Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO), and as planned by the ministry, reviving 1,500 industrial units in the current year is on the agenda."

“Since the beginning of this year, more than 381 units with the capacity to restore employment for more than 10,000 people have returned to the production cycle,” Niaraki said.

Since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), the Industry Ministry has been inaugurating several industrial, mining, or economic projects in various provinces every week.

The ministry’s “Persistent Production-Effective Employment-Sustainable Exports” program was implemented following the Energy Ministry’s A-B-Iran scheme which kicked off by the energy ministry last year and is continuing in the current year.

According to the A-B-Iran scheme [the acronyms A and B stand for water, electricity in Persian], Energy Ministry plans to inaugurate some water, electricity projects across the country every week.

EF/MA