TEHRAN – Following a series of trips to various provinces, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited the southern Fars Province on Thursday to meet with provincial officials and follow up on the issues and problems of the mentioned province.

As IRNA reported, during the one-day trip President Raisi visited several cities in the said province and allocated over 60 trillion rials (about $1.42 billion) of resources for completing semi-finished projects and developing infrastructure in the mentioned province.

The president was accompanied by some of his cabinet members and their deputies in his trip to Fars Province.

During the visit, Raisi attended a press conference to brief the press about the goals of his visit to Fars province and to answer some questions.

Speaking in the press conference, the president said the government has identified and prioritized the major development needs of the province during the meetings with local officials and experts.

According to the official, completing semi-finished projects in various fields including water supply, agriculture, industry, trade, and mining is the top priority of the government, and a comprehensive plan will be prepared to pursue the completion of such projects.

“Over 100 [such] projects were identified and the expert views on the projects were assessed during separate meetings with ministers and officials of each field and finally those with higher priority were approved to receive funding to be completed,” Raisi explained.

He further noted that a high council will be formed to follow up on the water problems of the province and will be tasked specially to monitor the water supply projects across the province.

Raisi underlined the significant role of the local officials in the success of the approved projects in the province and noted that provincial officials and authorities should strongly pursue the fulfillment of their tasks and follow up on the completion of the projects in their affiliated areas.

Elsewhere in his remarks, President Raisi mentioned the great potentials of Fars Province in agricultural sectors and said: “Fars Province is ranked first in the country regarding the production of some agricultural products and we should support the province to maintain this position.”

Pointing to the province’s industrial sector, the official noted that currently 40 percent of the province’s total industrial capacity is idle and some industrial units despite having all the infrastructure are not active due to lack of capital and need to be provided with supporting facilities.

He called on the country’s banking system to provide the productive sector with the required facilities in order to direct the country’s liquidity toward production.

“Banks should know that liquidity must be directed towards production; if they do so it will result in the reduction of inflation and prosperity otherwise it will only lead to more inflation and worsen the economic situation,” he said.

President Raisi has traveled to seven provinces since he took office back in August and according to the official, he plans to continue his visits to all of the country’s provinces.

EF/MA