TEHRAN- As announced by a provincial official, 199 idle production units were revived in South Khorasan province, in the east of Iran, since the current government took office in August 2021.

Javad Qena’at, the governor-general of the province, said that the mentioned units returning to the production cycle have created jobs for 2,000 persons.

With the launch of the movement to activate the stagnant units in the economic affairs coordination department of the governorate, from the total of 360 stagnant units, 199 units have returned to the production cycle and this process continues, the official added.

As announced by the head of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO), 2,170 idle production units have returned to the production cycle since the current government took office.

According to Ali Rasoulian, who is also the deputy industry, mining and trade minister, this approach is very important since the country has been dealing with the most severe international sanctions for many years; and while it relies more than ever on domestic production.

Of course, what is seen as the result of the efforts of the ISIPO, as one of the main organizations in charge of boosting the country's production, planning and diligent follow-up to revive the stagnant production units, fortunately the work in this due is on the right track, the official has stated, highlighting that revival of each stagnant production and industrial unit leads to job creation and return to work of 18 people on average.

As previously announced by Rasoulian, 2,067 idle industrial units were revived in the country’s industrial parks and zones during the previous Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20, 2022).

According to the official, with the reviving of the mentioned units job opportunities were created for over 39,000 people.

“ISIPO had put it on the agenda to revive 2,000 stagnant units inside and outside industrial parks and zones in the previous year and by the end of the year 2,067 idle units returned to the production cycle, which provided employment for more than 39,000 people,” Rasoulian said.

The official noted that 1,433 small workshop units were also established in the mentioned year most of which were the production and knowledge-based units with high technology.

The necessary licenses were also obtained for establishing 26 new industrial parks and zones across the country in the previous year, he added.

He stressed that reviving idle production units is the main approach that the government is currently following in the industry sector.

The government is seriously pursuing its programs to resolve production units' problems in collaboration with the private sector; Very good planning has been done in this regard, Rasoulian said.

He mentioned providing infrastructure and supporting small businesses and enterprises as two major programs of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade in relation to industrial parks and said that 2,023 projects related to providing infrastructure for industrial parks, including water, electricity, and gas supply are underway in different parts of the country.

Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization and its affiliated provincial companies now have 509 industrial parks and 340 industrial zones and five special economic zones in operation, 85 specialized industrial parks and zones, six technology parks, 40 technology and business service centers, two information technology and software service complexes; 100,058 contracts have been concluded and operation of 49,882 industrial units and 3,270 workshops has provided direct employment for 998,595 people across the country.

The ISIPO head has recently announced that 1,191 idle production units have been revived in the industrial estates and zones of the country since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2022).

Referring to the addition of many lands to industrial estates last year, Rasoulian noted: “This year, we focused on providing infrastructure for these lands, and infrastructure was provided for 2,151 hectares of lands.”

He then mentioned the establishment of joint industrial estates with other countries, and said the initial negotiations were conducted with Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and recently Armenia, but if these joint industrial estates are to be established at the border zero point, there is a need to change the laws and regulations and it must be approved in the parliament.

MA/MA