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Mottaki Stresses Continued
Pakistan Talks
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Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (r) shakes hands with his Pakistani counterpart, Khursheed Mehmoud Kasuri, in Tehran on Wednesday. (Mehr Photo)
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TEHRAN, Dec. 20--Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran-Islamabad trade ties can be expanded according to the economic potentials of the two neighboring states.
In a meeting with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmoud Kasuri, who arrived in Tehran at the head of a delegation for an official two-day visit, Mottaki also stressed on the continuation of political consultations between the two nations to establish peace and security in the region, IRNA reported.
“Iran and Pakistan has good potentials for enhancing mutual cooperation based on their religious, cultural and historical commonalities,“ Mottaki said.
Khasuri, for his part, underlined the need to boost commercial ties and reach an acceptable level in economic transactions based on mutual interests.
The two sides discussed bilateral ties, regional and international issues, border cooperation, gas pipeline and terrorism.
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Haddad-Adel: People Voted for Men of Action
TEHRAN, Dec. 20--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel said on Wednesday Iranians voted for men of actions and not words in last Friday’s election.
Speaking to reporters, the speaker said, “On December 15, people voted for those who are men of actions and not words, and those who serve the masses,“ IRNA reported.
Experts Assembly and councils elections were held simultaneously in 63,377 polling stations nationwide on Friday.
The Majlis also held its midterm elections in three constituencies--Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr (taken as one), Bam and Ahvaz. Over 28 million Iranians participated in the three elections, from a total eligible population of 49 million.
Haddad-Adel said that the message of the election was that “people are and will remain supporters of the government“.
“All those who won the majority of votes in any of the three elections are supporters of the government,“ he said.
Commenting on claims of violations in the process of ballot counting, the speaker said, “Not even a single vote has changed“ in the process of ballot counting during the past days.
“Elections of the December 15 were the most glorious elections ever held in Iran,“ he said, stressing that all votes were completely protected by election officials.
Haddad-Adel further said that the Friday election had two features.
“Firstly, three different elections were held simultaneously in Tehran constituency, and secondly the process of ballot counting was computerized,“ he said.
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20-Year Vision Underscored
TEHRAN, Dec. 20--State Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Tuesday a conference scheduled to be held on the 20-Year Vision (ending 2025) would be effective in highlighting its importance for the government.
“The nation expects the government not to ignore the goals of the strategic plan,“ he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Rafsanjani noted that extensive expert studies have been conducted in drawing up the 20-Year Vision document and the democratically-elected government is expected to incorporate them in its annual plans.
Rafsanjani topped the winners of the Experts Assembly elections held on Dec. 15.
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State Bodies
Lack Supervision
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Mohammad Niyazi
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TEHRAN, Dec. 20--No supervision exists in some state organizations, while more than one body supervise over others, said the head of State Inspectorate Organization (SIO) on Wednesday.
On the second day of a conference of experts responsible for evaluating executive units, Mohammad Niyazi added that one of the difficulties is in the formation of supervisory bodies, IRNA
reported.
“The evaluation of an employee’s work and responding to complaints would have no meaning without supervision,“ he said.
“Inspections at any organization must be carried out by the same organization, for each organization knows itself better than others.“
Niyazi noted that the main goal of inspection is to correct what is wrong so that the relevant organization will attend to its work more easily.
“One of the effects of supervision is prevention of abnormalities in the organization, for it disrupts the system and brings about administrative corruption,“ he said, adding that the SIO has chosen the preventive method. Stating that no individual or organization can claim that it does not need supervision, Niyazi said, “We are not able to see our own faults and must have outside supervision.“
Announcing the plan for the establishment of the High Council for Supervision, he said, “This plan has been designed at the order of the Headquarters for Combating Economic Corruption, and will be presented today [Wednesday] at a session of the heads of the three branches of government.“
The SIO chief stressed that the Education Ministry must undertake secret as well as open supervision, for this will result in having the employee take responsibility for his work at all times.
“We must gain the trust of the person being supervised; they should feel that not only is supervision not an irritant, but will also help them in their work,“ he said.
Niyazi further said that people’s complaints must be attended to without discrimination--the supervisor must not differentiate between a person of high or low rank which, unfortunately, exists in the Iranian system.
Experts evaluated the performance of workers and the methods of responding to the complaints of provincial education and training departments at the two-day conference.
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MPs Slam
IRIB’s Partisan Performance
TEHRAN, Dec. 20--A number of lawmakers on Wednesday notified President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the poor performance of the provincial branches of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
In a letter to President Ahmadinejad, 10 MPs criticized the IRIB for its political inclinations toward a specific party and individuals, Mehr News Agency reported.
“Unfortunately, the national media has changed into a medium of a specific party and individuals, who match the attitudes of IRIB directors in a manner that even some parliamentarians are facing a complete boycott,“ the letter noted.
They called on President Ahmadinejad to take measures to implement the articles of the Iranian Constitution in this regard through his representative in the Council for Supervising IRIB’s Performance.
Representatives from the legislative, executive and judicial branches as well as the leader’s representative are members of the council.
The leader appoints the IRIB chief.
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Singer Becomes Silent
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Nasser Abdollahi
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TEHRAN, Dec. 20--Iranian pop singer Nasser Abdollahi died on Wednesday after remaining in coma for 26 days.
Abdollahi, 37, was hospitalized in the ICU Department of Martyr Mohammadi Hospital in the southern city of Bandar Abbas on November 24 due to kidney disorder and went into coma, Fars News Agency reported.
He was then transferred to Martyr Hasheminejad Hospital in Tehran.
Chairman of Majlis Health and Treatment Commission Omidvar Rezaei said Abdollahi went into coma because of a blow he experienced after falling down.
Abdollahi’s top albums are “It Is Love“, “I Love You“, “Ghazalak“ and “Humid Aroma“.
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North-South Railroad Closed
TEHRAN, Dec. 20--North-South railroad was closed on Wednesday after five wagons derailed on the Sepiddasht-Bisheh track in the western Lorestan province.
According to Public Relations Office of Islamic Republic of Iran’s Railways, Tehran-Ahvaz and Tehran-Andimeshk trains were cancelled on Wednesday as a result of the incident, IRNA reported.
Noting that technicians are working to reopen the railroad, the office added that the incident is under investigation by experts of the High Commission of Accidents.
Earlier, the Tehran-South train service, which was suspended because of a derailment, reopened after 13 hours.
Director general of South Railroad Department, Mohammad Khakpour, said two trains have departed for the south since the early hours of December 9.
Eight carriages of a South-bound cargo train went off the track on Andimeshk-Doroud route on Friday and blocked the Tehran-South route. This is while a passenger train, en route from the southern city of Ahvaz to the northeastern city of Mashhad, had also stopped at the Andimeshk Station. No human losses were reported.
Some 4,000 passengers travel by train from Ahvaz to Tehran and vice-versa daily.
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Quake Rattles Eastern Tehran
DAMAVAND, Tehran, Dec. 20--Residents of eastern Tehran panicked when a moderate earthquake hit Roudehen and its vicinity on Wednesday morning.
The earthquake lasted for a couple of seconds, driving terrified residents of Roudehen, Boumehen, Gilavand and Damavand into the streets, IRNA reported.
Groups of frightened people remained in the streets for an hour after the quake, which was epicentered in Roudehen.
However, many were on their way to work or school and did not fully experience the jolts.
The seismological base of the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University registered the 4.2-magnitude quake at 8:09 local time.
There are no reports of any casualty or damage to property.
Damavand is often hit by quakes of varying magnitudes, as it sits on the Mosha Fault, a major active fault in central Alborz mountains.
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Italian Analyst: Iranian Statesmen Pragmatic, Strong
BRUSSELS, Belgium,
Dec. 20--An Italian analyst said the current leadership in Iran is pragmatic and praised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as being of a high caliber.
“The current leadership in Iran is very pragmatic and strong,“ Paolo Raffone, secretary-general of the Brussels-based Italian think-tank CIPI (Centro Italiano Prospetiva Internazionale) also told IRNA in an interview.
Raffone noted that Ahmadinejad is “proving to be a high profile and high caliber leader who can exert power at the regional level“.
“Actually he showed it with the Lebanese crisis. So he can, of course, be a key interlocutor for the region.“
He believes Italy is well placed to play a role in resolving the Middle East crises.
“I believe Italy has excellent relations (developed) over 50 years with Iran. Our presence in Iran is stable. We have always been there from the economic and commercial viewpoints,“ said Raffone, who previously worked with the UN.
“From the political viewpoint, we have excellent relationship with the leadership of Iran and, therefore, there is a possibility Italy can play a key role in resolving crises at the regional level,“ he said.
On Iran’s nuclear case, the analyst told IRNA that all the people involved know pretty well what is the actual situation and can talk differently behind closed doors.
Raffone presented to the press in Brussels on Tuesday a new book titled “Europe’s Global Power“ published by CIPI.
One chapter of the 169-page book deals with the European security concept for Iran.
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Big Opportunity
RESALAT: Whatever may be outcome of the Dec. 15 elections for the local councils, it can be approached by the rightwing from two angles. First, giving the outcome of the vote an unrealistic lining, and imposing our own thinking on the facts of success. Two, conducting an accurate analysis of the factors that led to the success of some political currents and the failure of others. No doubt we can simply close our eyes to what has happened (the result of the election) or will be happening and not care to upset our atmosphere of joy. We could also define all our actions and political alignments in a manner that we can always claim to be victorious. Let there be no doubt. There is no space for naivety. Realities are realities and cannot be denied. It might seem rather pessimistic, but the message of the vote should be studied for what it really is. There is all the more reason to read the writing on the wall. We cannot remain indifferent to realities or not see the internal cracks in the rightist enclave and the small crises in conservative ranks. We need to clarify the reasons behind our internal challenges that were once seen in the number of candidates for the council election, later on in the differences over the electoral tickets...Last week’s elections offered a big opportunity to parties and political currents to review their policies and conduct some studies in self-evaluation.
Shock Therapy
DONYA-YE EQTESAD: It is more than a decade that the housing sector is grappling with the vicious circle of recession-inflation. The problem is the result of inefficient policies adopted by the government. The key sector entered an era of recession almost three years ago when prices shot up. The policy of the government to offer bigger loans for first-time home buyers, from the earlier 120 million rials to 180 million rials brought in its wake stagflation. The most visible consequence of stagflation is the systematic rise in prices and prices are still increasing in the absence of a regulated pace. The government now should focus on the need for some shock therapy in the housing market to help curb inflation and the unusually high prices. It should take special care to avoid its past policies that produce galloping inflation.
Zionist Agenda
SIASAT-E ROUZ: Leading western powers have always tried to sow seeds of discord among nations on different pretexts. The ongoing clashes between Palestinian groups ’Hamas’ and ’Fatah’ are the product of the destabilizing policies of the West and its Zionist lobbies who consider the Palestinians a threat to the Israel. Since the West considers the Palestinian nation a threat to the stability of the occupying power, it wants to protect the Zionists by creating differences and discord in Palestinian ranks as is evident in the Fatah-Hamas violence in recent days. Lebanon that also neighbors Israel is preoccupied with its own political challenges due to the opposition of the pro-western Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to forming a government of national unity. The same is also true for other Muslim nations where the West on the pretext of establishing democracy is in fact involved in fanning the flames of political tensions and chaos.
Success Story
KARGOZARAN: Since the state-run economy is well rooted in Iran and major investments have been made in its various sectors, it seems that a transition from the centralized system to market economics would be very difficult. However, since Iran wants to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has little choice but to create an open economic system. Hence, experts are concerned that moving away from a government-controlled economic system demands deeper contemplation and expert studies. The bottom line is that Iran should make use of the experiences of countries that already are WTO members. A glance at the achievements of China that is an incumbent WTO member shows that its annual exports have now reached to over $400 billion. The most important parameter of China’s success story is the competitive nature of its trading system.
Forecasters
KAYHAN: The so-called reformers have launched a propaganda tirade in recent days and are calling themselves winners of the three elections, i.e. Majlis midterms, Assembly of Experts and local councils. It was not very long time that the pro-reform camps admitted that their right-wing opponents have the capability of forecasting the election results. But now it seems that they have such capability by declaring themselves victorious of the Dec. 15 elections. Although council votes of densely populated areas in Tehran have not been fully counted, how can the reformers claim to be the winners?
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