In the Name of God,
The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Speech of H. E. Asghar Ebrahimi Asl
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Pretoria
On the National Day
7 February 2011 - Pretoria
Her Excellency Minister Dr. Naledi Pandor
Distinguished Minister of Science and Technology
Distinguished Members of Parliament,
H. E. Ambassador Dr. Alzubeidi,
Distinguished Dean of Ambassadors in Pretoria
Dear Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the outset I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for attending the ceremony on the 32nd anniversary of triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran which was led by the Late Imam Khomeini in 1979.
I would also like to congratulate President Jacob Zuma, the government and the people of the Republic of South Africa for their recent successes including the successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup, reelection as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council with a remarkable vote of 182 out of 189 voting countries, and membership in the BRICS. I pray the Almighty God for continuous success and prosperity of this friendly country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Having over 5000 years of history of culture and civilization and also over 3000 years of Governance, my country witnessed an Islamic Revolution in the process of which the wise leadership of the Late Imam Khomeini, the mass participation of the Iranian people with “God is Great” as their slogan, led to the overthrow of the Pahlavi Regime, a regime which was supported by the western countries and relied on a fully equipped army of more than 500,000 troops; even though it had a huge amount of financial and economic resources. Finally, the revolution removed the roots of oppression, dictatorship, corruption, and dependency on other countries from Iran.
Immediately after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini invited the Iranian people to participate in a referendum to choose the type of their political system and thus %99/8 of the people voted for the Islamic Republic of Iran. After that the members of the Constituent Assembly, who were elected by direct vote of the people, prepared the Constitution which is one of the most progressive constitutions in the world.
During the last 32 years the great nation of Iran has been able to obtain great achievements, in spite of the 8 year imposed war, economic sanctions, political propaganda and sabotage. This was achieved by the prudent leadership of the late Imam Khomeini and currently Imam Khamenie, as well as numerous efforts of the governments, along with the vigilant participation of our people.
Before the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Shah’s regime used to export more than 6 million barrel of oil per day and was importing most of the domestic needs for the population of 36 million people at the time. However, with the current population of 75 million people, we are currently exporting only 2 million barrel of oil per day, but are producing and exporting many non-petroleum commodities, including agricultural and industrial products, processed minerals, and knowledge based high tech products. As a result my country is now the 6th biggest economy in Asia and the 16th in the world.
With huge investment on education and research and with 3.5 million university students in various fields of science and technology, the Islamic Republic of Iran has one percent share in global production of knowledge and sciences. However, due to sanctions and lack of confidence in mechanism of patent registration, all of our scientific and technological achievements are not registered. It would be interesting to mention that 62% of our university students are female who will be the mothers of the next generation.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is in a position that possesses the knowledge for the whole cycle of exploration, enrichment and production of nuclear fuel bars in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear technology, which has been achieved based on complete indigenous resources. Our nuclear facilities are completely transparent and are functioning and developing under the continuous supervision of the IAEA inspectors and their onsite cameras. In fact, our intention is to utilize this technology in generating energy and also to use it for medical and agricultural purposes.
I am pleased to inform you that the Iranian scientists have progressed in a variety of scientific and industrial fields specially design, production and launch of satellites, biotechnology, nanotechnology, aerospace, microelectronics, stem cells, new materials and basic engineering, design and construction of dams, power plants, refineries, petrochemical plants, subway and rail road transportations systems, IT, ICT, Fuel Cells, GTL, shipbuilding and defense industries. We have developed a capacity of manufacturing 1.5 million cars and construction of 1.5 home and apartments per year. In fact, these achievements are indicating that dual standards, politicized agenda and propaganda cannot shake the will of a nation to achieve a durable growth and development as well as freedom, independence and reliance on itself. It is worth mentioning that in many cases these types of pressures have led the country to be more creative, innovative and self reliant. For example, as a result of the imposed sanction on exporting gasoline to Iran, our government decided to develop the internal capacity and from 11 January 2011 our gasoline production not only has met the domestic needs but we are able to export the exceeding amount up to 1 billion liters per year.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the present, the Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys many intangible assets in the fields of education, health, science and technology, industry, mining, agriculture, energy and management, which are more important than our petroleum and gas resources. In coping with global challenges including poverty, unemployment, diseases, natural disasters, climate change, HSEQ and sound management of available resources and for realization of social justice my country is ready to share its valuable knowledge and experiences with other countries.
According to the Iranian Constitution, President Ahmadinejad has distributed justice shares (the stock belonging to profitable governmental corporations) among low income families. Also implementation of the subsidy reform plan was started in 2010. Based on his serious stand on the Islamic values, President Ahmadinejad holds cabinet meetings in a different province, city and rural area and by establishing direct and intimate relationship with the people he has offered a new pattern of simple life and management for which many nations in the world are admiring him.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The 21st century is a time to change old paradigms and to put an end to militarism, dictatorship and oppression and it is the time to hear the voice of the nations. Freedom, independence and democracy should not be sacrificed for exploitation and the status quo. This is a path that we have inherited from the late Imam Khomeini and now Imam Khameneie is continuing it. So far, 30 national elections have been held in my country which has changed the policy of the country from widespread dependency on the West to a sovereign and independent policy. This is a pattern that the world has witnessed in the I. R. of Iran and for sure will utilize it.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to conclude with mentioning the growing relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the friendly country of the Republic of South Africa, with annual bilateral trade of more than $3.5 billion between the two countries. I am confident that a great potential exists in this relationship and the upcoming eleventh joint economic commission and the existing 92 agreements and MoUs will contribute to materializing the serious will of the governments and private sectors of the two countries to expand this relationship.
I thank you very much for your attention and invite H. E. Minister Dr. Naledi Pandor to take the floor.