I came across the phrase "global
village" first about 40 years ago when I was reading the works of Mr. McLuhan.
In the concluding years of the 20th
century, the world had really turned into a global village. Many borders had
collapsed and the revolution in information technology had turned the whole
world into a global village and announcements were made that everybody is at
his/her destination regardless of what part of the world they are standing on.
Some 25 years ago I decided to pave the
way for Iran’s successful presence in foreign trade by publishing some
international periodicals.
The first of them was Iran Exports,
which was published in the last year of Iran–Iraq war, when Tehran was being
pounded by Iraqi missiles.
I knew that missiles were harbingers of
the end of war, which meant the beginning of reconstruction. Oil revenues were
not adequate for a major reconstruction effort and attention should have been
paid to increasing export of non-oil goods.
Before Iran Exports reached the
end of the fifth year of its publication, I came to realize that "partnership"
is more common in the world than "exports" because the former encompassed
cooperation in production, marketing, and sales of goods. Therefore, I decided
to publish another periodical, Iran International.
Perhaps most executive officials of the
Iranian government were not familiar with "partnership" at that time and a lot
of my time was spent on meeting those who should have been introduced to new
developments in global economy before trying to get Iran into it and cooperate
with Iran International.
Finally, the first issue of Iran
International was published about 10 years ago concurrent with the Islamic
Summit Conference in Tehran and the magazine first proposed an "Islamic common
market" during the said conference.
Effective presence in global trade along
with introducing Iran to other members of international trade family as well
as developing trade activities in the country have been major goals pursued by
Iran International over the preceding years.
During those 10 years, more than 60
ordinary and special issues of the magazine have been published. Presence of
foreign, multinational companies, which were partners to major Iranian
companies in joint ventures, in Iran International signified success of the
magazine in promoting cooperation and interaction between Iran and other
countries.
Now, on behalf of myself and other
colleagues, I thank all people and institutes who helped us promote this
periodical and I wish ever-increasing success for this magazine in the coming
years!
