President says improving people’s lives ‘key goal of budget bill’

Speaking during a cabinet session on Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani said, “to make our economy stronger, cooperation and coordination among all branches and people’s support is possible and important.”

Stating that the government was able to prepare the budget bill on time despite pressures and sanctions, Rouhani added, “the most important objective of the budget bill is to improve people’s lives.”

“We should work hard to control and manage goods prices provided to people, and in doing so, regulatory organs need to be more active,” he added.

“The government will try to not reduce the subsidies that are granted to different services,” said Rouhani adding, “energy and health subsidies will continue to stay in place.”

On the importance of faster finalization of e-government, Rouhani described it very important, adding it is because we do not have enough information about lower classes.”

He added, “subsidies must remain in place, but they need to be goal-oriented, conditional and temporary.”

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also advised ministers and officials to be transparent in reporting about their activities, saying, “ministers must transparently report to people about what activities they are planning to carry out.”

On the priorities of foreign policy, Rouhani added, “all ministries that have foreign communications and exchanges should work harder to develop foreign relations, because foreign relations are different from foreign policy.”

“In current situations, the priority must be given to closer, more strategic relations with our neighboring countries to be able to overcome the issues more easily,” added the president.

He also went on to commemorate Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and expressed condolences over his demise.

Rouhani mentioned the bus crash in Islamic Azad University’s Science and Research Branch and described it a tragic incident, adding, “such an accident, which has happened inside the university due to carelessness, is less expected in universities.”

He also went on to once again offer condolences to the families of those students who lost their lives in the bus crash and wished swift recovery for the injured.