TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Monday insisted on the importance of “food security” and called on the administration of Ebrahim Raisi to remove any obstacles to production sector.

“Decisively counter any factor that weakens production,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Raisi and his cabinet members on the occasion of Government Week.

The Leader said production is the driving force behind economic progress.

Economy is the overriding priority although it should not mean ignoring other things such as science, security, or social and cultural harms, Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted, according to Tasnim.

The Leader pointed to the food crisis resulting from the Ukraine war, saying, “There is a war in a corner of the world today and food security has become a global issue. We insisted on self-sufficiency in terms of wheat, corn and livestock feed years ago. Some had a different opinion in Iran. It’s now clear for everyone in the world today how important this is.”

Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say, “The issue of food security is the first issue which must not be put into oblivion.”

The Leader also called on the cabinet to “carefully and constantly” monitor the main economic criteria, such as the inflation rate, economic growth, investment growth, employment growth, per capita income growth, and reduction of economic inequality.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “Some people say we must definitely have relations with a certain country to solve our problems, but this is very harmful to the country. Basing the country's issues on others and waiting for them [to resolve the issues] is a wrong approach.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also urged efforts to prevent the country’s massive natural and humanitarian resources from being wasted, highlighting the importance of paying attention to the construction of petrochemical refineries, completion of the added-value chain in the mining industries and preventing the sale of raw materials, completion of the vital North-South and East-West corridors in order to raise the capacity for international transportation, and promoting the employment of the unparalleled capacities available in the seas.