TEHRAN – Parliament is set to approve or reject the nominee for the post of industry, mining, and trade minister on Tuesday.

Vice president for parliamentary affairs Hossein-Ali Amiri told IRNA on September 22 that President Hassan Rouhani has written a letter to the Majlis naming Alireza Razm Hosseini as the candidate to run the ministry.
MPs have been studying the eligibility of Razm Hosseini over the last few weeks. Razm Hosseini has also attended related parliamentary committees to inform MPs about his priorities. 
Normally, first the Majlis Industry and Mining Committee presents a report about the proposed minister and then two MPs speak in favor and two others against. Each MP speaks for 15 minutes.
Later, the proposed minister is given 30 minutes to elaborate on his plans.
At a time of the harshest sanctions in history against Iran, the Industry Minister is tasked with great responsibilities. The responsibly is getting heavier as the country is fighting the Coronavirus pandemic.
President Rouhani has said minister of industry, mining, and trade is “at the forefront” of the economic war waged against Iran by the Trump administration. 
Homayoon Sameh Yeh Najafabadi, a Jewish MP, has told IRNA that Razm Hosseini has a bright record in areas of industry and mining.
In view of his performance as governor general at Kerman and Khorassan Razavi provinces, he can reform the ministry, the Jewish lawmaker predicted.
MP Hojatollah Firouzi, the spokesman for the Majlis Industry and Mining Committee, has also said, “Studies show that he will garner to the votes of the representatives.” 
Also, Mohammad Sabzi, the representative of Saveh in the parliament, predicted that the Majlis will endorse Razm Hosseinin for the post because the ministry has been managed by a caretaker minister for a long time and the term of the current administration will come to an end in August 2021.
MP Mohammadreza Dashti Ardakani who represents the Ardakan constituency in the parliament also says Razm Hosseini is a good candidate for the job.
“Mr. President’s proposed minister has great competence in the fields of industry and mining. And of course, he has enough competence in the area of commerce,” he stated, adding, “I consider him a qualified person for the ministry.”
Back in May, Rouhani fired the previous Industry Minister Reza Rahmani and immediately appointed Hossein Modarres Khiabani as caretaker minister of industry, mining, and trade.
Later in August, the parliament turned down Rouhani’s nominee, asking the president to propose another person for the mentioned position.
Later on, Rouhani introduced Razm Hosseini as his new nominee for heading the controversial ministry.
The nominee to lead the ministry met with the representatives of the private sector at Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) on Saturday.
In the meeting, the ICCIMA members addressed the most important problems in the way of boosting domestic production and outlined the priorities that the ministry should pursue during the final months of the current government’s office, ICCIMA portal reported.
Speaking in the gathering, the ICCIMA chief Gholam-Hossein Shafeie underlined the strong background of the proposed minister and said, "Mr. Razm Hosseini has an important characteristic compared to other cabinet members; he has already been engaged with the private sector for 20 years. Accordingly, we hope that someone like him will be able to make up for the shortcomings of the Industry Ministry, especially in the past months, when it was run without a minister.”

PA/PA