TEHRAN- The President of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) announced the conclusion of a five-party memorandum of understanding at the meeting of the Government-Private Sector Dialogue Council on Monday, September 21, and said: The purpose of concluding this memorandum is to increase interaction and coordination between governance institutions related to improving the business environment and the private sector so that they can make the economic atmosphere transparent, stable, competitive, and predictable by improving the business environment.

Samad Hassanzadeh, President of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, on Sunday, September 20, at the meeting of the Board of Representatives of the Iran Chamber, while appreciating the efforts of economic actors despite difficult economic conditions, said: Economic actors have so far been able to preserve production centers and protect the country’s employment capacity, and the Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade and all country officials, in meetings held at the Iran Chamber, have always been grateful to the private sector for this.

Hassanzadeh, referring to the impact of the complexities of the international environment on the exacerbation of the country’s economic problems, said: About 50 years of sanctions and imposed wars, including the 8-year, 12-day, and Ramadan wars, and the continuation of these wartime conditions, have been very heavy for our country. We have lost great figures who will never be forgotten for the country, and the country’s large enterprises and factories have suffered damage, but economic actors and the noble and honorable people of Iran have been able to resist these aggressions and damages and create conditions in which we face the least problem in meeting the basic needs of society; of course, officials also have the necessary will to provide support to eliminate deficiencies and resolve the problems of economic enterprises.

At the same time, the President of the Iran Chamber referred to the adverse effects and damages of the great military and economic war on the lives of all people and stated: All private sector experts believe that today the duty of economic actors and enterprises is more important than ever, and we must make our efforts to continue and sustain production so that we reach conditions in which problems for the country and economic activities are reduced.

Samad Hassanzadeh considered overcoming the current situation dependent on strengthening the endogenous ties of the country’s economy and said: It is necessary that the strength of large industries be combined with the capacity, expertise, and innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises, and that the country’s economic resilience be enhanced.

Hassanzadeh, stating that today the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises, which contain a large part of employment capacity, face very great problems, added: In order to be able to provide more lasting service to our country, large economic actors must definitely bring small and medium-sized economic actors along with them and use their products in sales and exports.

Iran Chamber’s major step for “national synergy” with unveiling of SPX system

He announced the Iran Chamber’s major step for “national synergy” with the unveiling of the Iran Subcontracting  and Partnership Exchange (SPX) System and said: The Iran Chamber’s new action in line with national synergy is creating an operational platform for linking small enterprises with large industries; in this regard, the Iran Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (SPX) was implemented in cooperation between the Iran Chamber and the Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization.

The President of the Iran Chamber added: By aggregating information on enterprises and employers’ needs, this system transforms relations between small and large enterprises from scattered and temporary to sustainable and purposeful cooperation and creates a mechanism for establishing stable, transparent, and manageable relations.

Signing of five-party MOU as a national action to improve business environment

The President of the Iran Chamber announced the plan to conclude a five-party memorandum of understanding as a national action to improve the business environment and said: As a national action aimed at convergence and development of inclusive cooperation in the country’s economic policymaking, the Iran Chamber has pursued the formation of a five-party interaction; to operationalize this interaction, a five-party memorandum of understanding between the Iran Chamber, the Ministry of Economy, the Legal Deputy of the President, the Ministry of Interior, and the Office of the Secretary of the Council of Ministers will be signed concurrently with the holding of the Government-Private Sector Dialogue Council on Monday, September 21.

Hassanzadeh, explaining the details and objectives of this five-party memorandum, said: The purpose of this memorandum is to increase interaction and coordination between governance institutions related to improving the business environment and the private sector so that they can make the economic atmosphere transparent, stable, competitive, and predictable by improving the business environment, and through a coherent and sustainable mechanism for cooperation and coordination, improve the quality of economic policies and regulations, facilitate and monitor the implementation of laws and regulations, identify and remove legal and executive obstacles facing economic actors, and use this capacity to improve the regulatory system.

New proposal to Central Bank to meet the country’s needs under conditions of rising forex rates

In another part of his remarks, he said: Given that the increase in the forex rate has created more inflation in society, and due to the Central Bank’s contractionary policies, restrictions have been created in the allocation of foreign currency to enterprises, especially for essential goods, parts, and machinery, meetings have been held with Central Bank officials, and it has been proposed that the allocation of foreign currency for essential goods such as medicine, which is part of government duties, be carried out by the Central Bank, but that other matters be handled by the private sector through imports without order registration, without currency transfer, and without verifying the origin of foreign currency, so that they can meet the needs of economic units themselves; of course, Dr. Hemmati has also given a favorable promise on this issue so that we can overcome the conditions that America and the West have created for our country.

Hassanzadeh, regarding the issues in the country’s customs for clearing goods and processing documents for goods clearance, said: The Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade announced at the meeting of the Council of Heads of Chambers that the plan for unified command of customs with the responsibility of governors and supervision of customs heads is on the agenda; we hope that with this measure we will see all products made available to economic enterprises for clearance in the shortest possible time.

MA