Oil Minister Underscores Strengthening Non-Oil Economy

(FNA)- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh underlined the necessity for increasing the production of non-oil products.

The non-oil economy should be strengthened, Zanganeh said in a televised interview in Tehran on Thursday.

He further said that the oil money which goes to the fund (National Development Fund) should be spent on projects resulting in the enlargement of non-oil economy.

Projects like the ones designed to develop the petrochemical sector will cut dependence on oil, the minister added.

In December, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said exports of crude was just one of Iran's sources of revenue and the country can live up without oil sales and through exports of its rich mineral resources, modern industries, and talented people.

“We have different methods and scenarios to run the country under different circumstances and we will not forget which countries are conspiring to reduce oil prices,” Larijani said during a visit to Syria.

He said that the same countries conspired against Iran in the 1980s when Iran was at war with Iraq.

“It would be a mistake if they (certain governments) imagine that they can change the strategic situation of the (Middle East) region through oil (price),” said Larijani.

In early March, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in a meeting with economic activists, elites and state officials in Tehran explained the root cause of Iran's turn to the Resistance Economy as well as the specifications, features and components of such an economic model.

Ayatollah Khamenei elaborated on the reasons and incentives for the adoption of the economy of resistance, and said, “Abundant material and non-material capacities of the country, treatment of chronic and lasting economic problems, confrontation against sanctions and immunizing the country’s economy against global economic crises” are the reasons why such a model should be practiced in Iran.

He further noted that the components of the resistance economy are "creating movement and dynamicity in the country’s economy and improving macroeconomic indicators", "ability to resist against threatening factors", "reliance on internal capacities", adoption of a "Jihadi approach", "people-centeredness", "reforming consumption patterns", "campaign against corruption" and adoption of "knowledge-based approach".

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the sanctions imposed by the western powers against Iran due to its peaceful nuclear program, and said the country should strengthen its economy in a way that no boycott and embargo could ever leave a negative impact on it so easily.