TEHRAN – Hossein Selahvarzi was elected as the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) on Sunday morning.

The ICCIMA election ceremony for selecting the 11th chairman of Iran’s major private sector body was officially held at the place of ICCIMA in Tehran with 485 members in attendance.

Winning 265 votes in his favor, Selahvarzi gained the top position at ICCIMA, while his rivals Younes Zhae’leh and Hossein Pir-Moazen gained 95 votes and 62 votes, respectively, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Selahvarzi, the previous deputy head of the ICCIMA, replaced Gholam-Hossein Shafeie who has been in the position since September 2016.

In this gathering, other board members including four vice presidents, treasurer, and secretary were also elected.

At the beginning of the meeting, Shafeie delivered a speech congratulating the new head and board members.

In his speech, he mentioned the country’s economic conditions and the heavy responsibility of the ICCIMA board members as the representatives of the country’s private sector.

“The special economic conditions and the existing challenges have made the transition from this situation conditional on the convergence of the people, scholars, private sector operators, decision-makers, and government officials, and we cannot reach a consensus and solve the challenges except through interaction and companionship, and there is no better forum than the Iran Chamber for achieving such a unity,” he said.

EF/MA