TEHRAN – President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi has finished his 29th provincial visit to Markazi Province by holding a press conference.

President Raisi arrived in Markazi province on Friday morning. “Markazi Province has many potentials, including the fact that this province is the industrial hub of the country, and they should be paid special attention to,” he said upon his arrival. 

During his trip to the province, President Raisi visited economic facilities and factories and met the people and local officials. 

Speaking on Friday evening amongst the people of Arak, the provincial capital, Ayatollah Raisi said, “Arak Day is a reminder of the epic creation of the industrial and technical companies of the city of Arak in support of the Sacred Defense,” according to the official website of the Iranian presidency.

Ayatollah Raisi added, “In addition to dedicating nearly 7,000 martyrs and thousands of wounded veterans to the Islamic Revolution, Markazi Province is the birthplace of great figures such as the Late Imam Khomeini (RA), who is the pride of not only Arak and Iran, but also the Islamic World.”

Ayatollah Raisi also said that solving the problems of heavy industries and small workshops as well as removing production obstacles are among the serious missions of the Ministers of Industry and Energy in Markazi Province.

He pointed out, "Markazi province has good capacities in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry, and clarified that some farmers do not want to stay in the village despite the facilities such as water and electricity, roads, health centers and schools in the villages, because they feel that the village economy is not active and agriculture is not economically beneficial for them".

President Raisi held a press conference at the end of his visit. “50 infrastructure plans, 39 resolutions for agriculture, water and soil, 65 projects in the field of culture, sports and education, 30 projects in the field of health and treatment, 9 projects in the field of employment, 8 projects in the field of industry and mining, 23 projects in the field of welfare and social and 10 projects in the field of law enforcement and justice were approved during this visit,” he stated at the presser. 

Raisi described the implementation of these projects as the necessities and priorities of the province's progress and assigned the Vice-President for Executive Affairs and the Governor-General of Markazi Province to seriously follow up on the implementation of these resolutions.

Stating that large industries in Markazi province have great capacities in production sector, entrepreneurship and knowledge-based employment, the president named the first problem of these industries as circulating capital. "The government is trying to help the process of providing capital needed by these companies," he said.

Ayatollah Raisi went on to say, "When large domestic companies produce high-quality products, similar products should not be imported from abroad."

The president added, "Unlawful import of goods that have domestic equivalents is not acceptable in any way and this should be stopped as soon as possible."