President Rouhani also told the meeting of Resistance Economy that in any relations with the neighbours, “Iran seeks a win-win situation; in this reciprocity, we would not seek dominance over any country; nor would we accept dominance by any other country over ourselves.”

Rouhani emphasized on the possible role played by ambassadors and provincial governors in realization of the cabinet’s promises made during election campaign in political, economic and social realms; “the cabinet is committed to its promises. We have planned carefully to implement the nationally agreed-upon opinions and will exploit every opportunity and resource in this path,” Rouhani told the meeting.

He then presented the meeting with figures by the national statistics office about the achievement of his government in economy; “today, the statistics office announced the 12-monthly inflation rate as 15.2 per cent; in March 2014, we promised to reduce inflation rate to 25 per cent and now an inflation rate of 40 per cent has been shrunken to below 16 per cent; as may be testified by the domestic and international observers, the government’s achievement in economy borders with miracle,” Rouhani rejoiced to say. “This is a miracle for the nation and the government serves the public,” he added.

“During past 18 months since the cabinet assumed power, it has accomplished the great feat of pushing forward a minus 9 per cent growth rate of 2012 and 2013 to a positive figure; now the growth rate is plus 4 per cent, and it is predicted that we will keep the positive growth rate by end of the year (March 21, 2015),” Rouhani emphasized, concluding that the government had been walking in the path to bring some improvement to people’s living conditions.

Rouhani stressed upon social capital as a boon for his government and addressed provincial governors; “the provincial local officials who do their jobs in serving the nation are equal, and only merit distinguishing them is the extent to which they serve the public well, apart from their partisan affiliations and sentiments,” he emphasized.

In an implicit criticism of his critics from the right-wing rival parties, Rouhani said that all officials who assume a position in the government should recognize the public vote cast during presidential election of June 2013; “otherwise, they would not have a place in higher government positions; the public would not accept it as well,” said the president. “If a responsible official does not believe in the promises made by the government, he will inflict the first and foremost damage to public confidence on the cabinet and its social capital,” Rouhani warned, citing hope as a social capital, with prudence bolstering this hope; “if the nation stands with the government, no problem will remain unresolved; however, we face many problems and 2 or 3 per cent growth would not be a good and satisfactory record for the cabinet,” he noted.

President Rouhani told the meeting and the nation that the government had been busy ‘reconstructing the ruins of the past,’ and ensured that government would move with more rapid pace once it reached the terra firma, where, he said, he would tell the public that the economic boom would be expected.

Rouhani believed that the nuclear negotiations had been seeking the national interest and glory, a thing well indicated by the Iran’s team of negotiations; “a polling has shown an overwhelming majority of the public supporting the nuclear talks with the 5+1; this is important that a path where the government moves is supported by the public,” he told the meeting.

However Rouhani implied that the government would have some work to do in foreign policy in addition to saving the economy and domestic issues; “foreign policy is highly important and we should develop a consensus domestically, since the government is a national conciliation government, working to bring different parties and groups together,” said the president.

Rouhani believed that growth and development would be sought in cooperation with the rest of the world and beyond immediate borders; “without incorporation into international economy, trade, scientific cooperation, no country would embrace growth; we should empower border provinces in doing this great job; we should ensure our neighbours that cooperation with Iran will definitely be in their interests, and surely, they will act accordingly in response,” president closed his remarks.

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