The challenges marking Iran’s relations with global economy and politics are currently a hot debate. Based on the report issued by the World Bank on Iran’s economic outlook up to 2020, one of the serious challenges faced by the Iranian economy during this period is unemployment, which would continue to soar as a result of inadequate domestic and foreign investments. During the past few months, economic and industrial officials have been talking about the future prospects and the country’s industrial strategy for the next 20 years. They even published a book on the subject. Mohammad Sattarifar, head of the Management and Planning Organization talks about the Fourth Economic Development Plan, which is to start within the next two years. The summary of his interview follows:

This is a good question. I think this is the 54th year that economic planning has been in vogue in Iran. Iran has been among few countries that tried to realize its economic goals in a systematic, planned manner. During five plans carried out before and three plans that were implemented after the revolution, the country has adopted various approaches each of which has been ensued by certain achievements. But a total of five pre-revolution and three post-revolution plans could not help the country reach a sustainable development capable of playing an effective role in the global economy.

Of course, besides our failures to realize the goals of our development plans, we have had considerable achievements too. Therefore, on the threshold of the Fourth Economic Development Plan, we can daresay that the country is ready for an economic leap. Anyway, the achievements of the past 54 years have provided suitable grounds for that economic leap. An important thing that must be done is to safeguard this achievement, which is the result of half a century endeavors. In fact, the impetus behind the next plan would depend on how the country would safeguard this achievement. By country, I mean the government, the Judiciary and the Parliament. Therefore, any carelessness in this regard will deal heavy blows to the country’s might.

However, in addition to good capacities, we have many structural problems too. We have software problems related to workforce. We have an army of young people looking for jobs. On the other hand, we have vacant capacities that cannot be taken advantage of due to managerial and executive problems. On the other hand, we are grappling with acute imbalances. That is, various regions lack sufficient conditions for an economic leap. Economic leap would be possible in a country where the atmosphere and activities are not harmonized. Another problem is the national division of labor. Without a clear definition of the national division of labor, no country can accede to World Trade Organization (WTO).

Joining WTO is inevitable for every country. The later we join, the more would be the loss. A country would be respected in WTO that has a clear definition of itself, but we continue to damage such natural resources as water, soil and forests. We have widespread poverty and social delinquencies. These are problems that are plaguing our country now. I mean, 54 years of efforts have made us ready for an economic leap. If this is going to continue, two things must be cleared. One is the enormous capacities of the country and another one being all-out historical problems with which we have been and are grappling. I want to broaden the discussion by referring to four important points. Firstly, past economic, social and investment grounds provided by the government and the people have paved the way for an economic leap. Secondly, we have enormous resources which are gaining more importance as time goes by. In the past our borders were less important and the global trade was limited. Today, however, the global trade is concerned with removing national borders. Thirdly, we are facing numerous economic, social, individual and institutional problems. Fourthly, the country must progress and develop while safeguarding its dignity. We must wait and see what the decision-making bodies such as the government, Judiciary and the legislature are going to do in this regard.

This pertains to viewpoints of officials. The more officials have a unified understanding of the past, the capacities, the bottlenecks and the future challenges, the more impetus would be provided for growth and development. So far, we have not been able to do this.

By officials, I mean high-ranking officials, whose unified understanding forms the country’s strategy. The more the understanding, the more we can progress. In Iran it is customary that when we talk about the past performance, differences are minimal. Planning experts say, "Think globally, act locally", but our approach to large-scale and small-scale issues is different. If our country reached a consensus on small-scale issues, we could take the next step to solve problems. Due to current conditions in the country, if you ask me whether our country deserves the current circumstances, I would say no. In fact, the current situation is a big impediment for every kind of development. Development does not need big resources, but an understanding. Development of any given country does not start with resources, but it is initiated through a common wisdom and determination among state officials. The officials can learn and teach through that common determination. Opportunities are very rare and very precious too, but we have not recognized this point yet.

If the Fourth Plan is to address the country’s capacities and deal with the existing bottlenecks, it has to create resources and opportunities and to do this the officials must have a new analysis of these conditions to be able to create new resources by taking advantage of new opportunities.

The developed countries have worked on this issue during the past 60 years and the World Bank, in a book written about several Southeast Asian nations, has specified several stepping stones for development. It has referred to consolidation of governments in such countries as South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia and it has explained to what extent those governments have implemented economic reforms, land reforms and promoted capital aggregation. It concludes that the government is the cornerstone of development. A neoclassic, institutionalist economist, who is at loggerheads with the government of his/her country says, "The government is responsible for development or underdevelopment." But what kind of government? They say it can be done by a sovereign government, which can attune with the rest of the world and can write a development plan and then institutionalize it. After institutionalization, it must be capable of establishing as much creative atmosphere as possible and must cooperate for the reconstruction of the country and job creation.

These conditions do not exist in our country. That is, the three powers do not have correct understanding of the elements making up the country’s development. The government intends to encourage investment and reduce unemployment, but it is the Judiciary that must establish security and pave the way. If both of them act in a coordinated manner, but the Parliament is not cooperative, nothing could be accomplished.

The country must have a development plan, but if we cannot act in unison, we would not get anywhere. Therefore, we must do several things to compile a plan. The first step is to become harmonized. Can we write a development plan to show that at what a dangerous juncture the country is? We would have been immune if we could have erected a wall around the country, but this is meaningless in the 21st century.

Our choices are becoming more and more limited. We are destined to hit a deadlock before being forced to choose. Under those conditions, we would have to settle for something inferior. With the current arrangement and incoordination, the result would be going for an inferior choice. But if we want to reach a practical, theoretical and executive pact, we have to pay attention to these points during the Fourth Plan. The Fourth Plan must not only continue the achievements of the Third Plan, but also address our weaknesses. Anyway, our state arrangements are not suitable. Hierarchical arrangements, structural arrangements, missions and the arrangements of our information technology are not good. The same is true about the Judiciary. When we have city and village councils, the Majlis is still supposed to discuss about construction of a bridge, a school or a bathroom in a village or pay attention to large-scale programs? There are many instances of such issues. We must pay attention to important issues during the Fourth Plan. The necessity to renovate the government, the Judiciary, the Parliament and the necessity to understand that the country cannot be run through a security approach. We must believe that we cannot progress by ignoring the rights of people, women, youths, ethnic groups and various cultures. We cannot succeed in isolation. Our approach must entail a suitable interaction based on non-interference and détente. Therefore, when we were drawing up the Fourth Plan, we dealt with all social, economic, cultural, environmental, domestic and foreign issues. Then we came to know Iran and the world and the position of Iran in the world and the region. We delineated 44 general objectives for the future to guide us through all programs. We said the prerequisite for realizing these objectives was to come up with a suitable configuration for the country. Schumacher says, "Development does not being with resources, but with discipline and organization."

If different powers and officials managed to establish discipline among them, we would be provided with the most important impetus for development. The money cannot solve our problems. Our views with regard to the country’s strategies are varied and multiple. We have serious problems in this regard.

The Fourth Plan is concerned with outlooks for the first time. We paid attention to all issues and saw, for example, that we have problems with regard to judicial security, or human rights. We have vacant capacities and are facing challenges in a constantly changing world. We must empower one another and to do this, we would need transparent information. We have gathered the required information during past 4-5 months and it first achievement was that they say they had not received such reports before.

We warn the officials that although we are very rich, we may become very poor. We must do something.

Since I am a graduate of economics, I do not want to talk about the politics. However, anytime that democracy has governed, people have been participating and parties have been free to express their views, the economic growth has been more sustained. If political development were pursued, the way would be paved for the realization of the economic development plans, while in the absence of political development, the plan would be left for the next minister and he would easily say, "Discard this! I don’t want it!" For this reason, when I presented my report to the Cabinet, I used the word ‘development’. We did not distinguish among social, political as well as economic development. The realities are intertwined. Any development in the economic field would be an achievement of political development. The main achievement of the political development is to give people hope and vivacity and encourage their participation. Any program that does not give people hope and does not encourage their participation is doomed to fail.