Statements in Meeting with Members of the National Engineering Day Commemoration Headquarters

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Welcome, gentlemen responsible for the engineering sectors of the country. Regarding engineering issues, Engineer Bahonar has expressed noteworthy points. The vast scope of engineering work, which he has extended to the humanities, is considered by him to be the engineering of the country's culture—here, engineering is used in its literal sense, not its technical sense. However, the extent of engineering work in the country is indeed broad; the description he provided is a good one; the suggestions included in his letter, which I had previously read, are also correct; we endorse them.

One point regarding the issues related to the engineers of the country was left unmentioned in his remarks, and that is the role of the young engineering groups in the matters of the Revolution; both during the revolutionary struggles, our technical colleges across the country were among the pioneers of the struggles; and after the victory of the Revolution, especially during the Sacred Defense, engineers were truly the self-sacrificing soldiers who dedicated all their abilities, strength, talents, skills, and genius to the war, which we witnessed. It can be said that every day a new phenomenon emerged from these talented young people who had pursued engineering studies; even after the Sacred Defense, this continued. Now, the fields of nanotechnology, stem cells, and biotechnology that he mentioned are all works that emerged after the Sacred Defense, in which our young engineers have worked. Well, they also had significant responsibilities; now, looking around, thanks be to God, many of the heads of the country are engineers, which has caused some objections; they say engineers are constantly being brought into positions.

What you must do is first demonstrate the issue of "we can"—which, fortunately, is a widely accepted slogan among all fair-minded individuals in this country—to the people; just as it is mentioned in his writings. In various sectors, strive to accomplish the unfinished tasks. For instance, in the export of engineering services, we mostly observe construction projects; you should ensure that the engineering products of the country are present in international exchanges; that is, we should truly be able to present the products of our engineers in factories and in parts manufacturing and in various extensive engineering sectors in the global market; this is an important task that you can undertake; you are responsible in this regard, whether you are in the government or the parliament, and you can make decisions.

And try to reduce the pressure of imports on the country; this is a truly important issue. Today, the pressure of imports is exhausting the country; there are various excuses for this. For example, the issue of smuggling; the figures being mentioned these days are astonishing and bewildering, around twenty-some billion in smuggling! It truly makes one dizzy. Well, then, under the pretext of preventing smuggling, we open the way for it to come through customs so that we can also gain some profit; this does not seem to me to be a strong logic; ensure that the products of the country are not overwhelmed by imports. These products are those that are being created and produced in various sectors by our talented young people, our faithful men, our capable individuals, some of whom are geniuses. This is a point that I believe is very important.

The issue of resistance economy that you mentioned, well, since this title was raised, it has perhaps been endorsed a thousand times by officials—with some variations—various officials, economic activists, even political activists, government officials, parliament, etc., have repeatedly said resistance economy, resistance economy; well, that is good; however, merely mentioning the name and repeating it verbally does not lead to any change; nothing happens. Just mentioning the name of a medicine and repeating the name does not cure any illness; the medicine must be consumed. You in the parliament and the government should look to see what has truly been done for the resistance economy in its true sense and what needs to be done. I believe this should be pursued seriously. This is the second issue.

The third issue is that regarding engineering matters, as I mentioned, seek out the gaps; see where we have deficiencies. Well, we have made progress in the field of parts manufacturing; for instance, in the construction of machinery, we have advanced, and we observe innovations in various fields. Engineering in design, engineering in factory construction, these are the tasks that we must take seriously and pursue. If you can establish this tradition of design and innovation in addressing various needs, then that is a good tradition that, as long as it exists in the country, God Almighty will reward you. Pursue the tasks that are gaps in the country, that are needs of the country. In any case, we hope that God grants you success, assists you, and enables you to accomplish your tasks.

Well, thanks be to God, as I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, our engineers are numerous in sensitive centers; you have many engineers in the parliament, many engineers in the government, and many in various sectors; pay attention to your responsibilities and truly focus on using engineering tools; see what needs to be done, and God willing, carry them out. God willing, may God grant you all success and support.