Priorities of the new Parliament: justice, employment, production and the national currency

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master Muhammad and upon his pure household

By Allah’s guidance and favor, today the eleventh term of the Islamic Consultative Majlis has begun. Once more, the magnificent and shining countenance of Islamic democracy is displaying its appeal to the whole world. I thank Allah the Omniscient and the Omnipotent for helping the Iranian nation in their ceaseless endeavor to construct the Islamic Consultative Majlis. Also, I thank the dear people for their determination and motivation and I congratulate the elected members for having managed to earn the trust of the voters.

Our late magnificent Imam considered the Majlis to be the highest echelon of national affairs. This could be the most complete definition for the Majlis because it determines its position and its responsibility in a brief sentence. If we define the law as the path of the country towards the summits and destinations specified in the Constitution, then the Majlis guarantees a vital guideline for the materialization of that path. All governmental and popular organizations and all masses of the people are obliged to take this path.

The guarantees for the fulfillment of this responsibility have been ensured by the Majlis itself – of course, the judiciary branch is also a guarantee as its responsibility is to ensure the implementation of the law – because the Majlis has the right to investigate, to reject or accept the high-ranking managers of the executive branch, to warn, to question and to impeach. Therefore, if the law proves to be a correct, sufficient and practical system and if its execution guarantees are fully grasped, the country will achieve its lofty goals. Such is the high position of the Majlis and such is its important and vital obligation.

It is you honorable members who can give the Majlis the position that it deserves. When the members of Majlis carry out their legislative duties and their other obligations by gaining a correct understanding about the circumstances and the priorities of the country, by doing expert work, with their active presence and punctuality and with sincerity and trustworthiness, it will emerge as a source of hope for the people, as a source of reliance for executives and as the highest echelon of national affairs in the true sense of the world.

Surely such a Majlis will play a determining role in helping the country reach its lofty goals. The main plight for members is busying oneself with detrimental trivialities, having unhealthy personal and partisan motives, showing negligence in carrying out one’s duties and getting involved in unhealthy ethnic, regional and tribal divisions.

In the present time, economic and cultural affairs are the highest priorities of the country. Regarding the economy, as well as the existing tangible problems, we should acknowledge that we have not gotten a good grade in terms of justice while we are in the decade of progress and justice. This bitter reality should move everyone into making theoretical and practical efforts to resolve the livelihood problems of underprivileged classes of society. According to the opinion of experts, the best course of action for achieving this goal is to reform the main areas of the national economy: employment, production, the value of national currency, inflation, extravagance and other such economic areas.

The general policies on the economy of resistance provide a valid guideline in this regard. Paying attention to the preparation of the Seventh Plan, considering that it is a short-term responsibility for the eleventh Majlis, as well as working on the reduction of the determining role that crude oil plays in governmental funds - this is a great opportunity for designating the main path of the nation’s economy - are the other pieces of advice that I wish to present to you dear members.

When trying to fulfil your supervisory role, I insist on you observing piety, being fair-minded and avoiding personal and partisan friendships and enmities. You should not violate the rights of diligent and hard-working managers, nor should you show too much leniency and clemency.

Cooperating with one another, combining the experience of veterans with the energy and enthusiasm of youth and newcomers, creating competition over doing good deeds and avoiding rivalry over one’s station and rank, adopting revolutionary positions when important international and domestic events come up, paying serious attention to the Majlis Research Center and the Supreme Audit Court, transmitting a sense of calm and tranquility to the public in the country when delivering a speech, interacting with executive and judiciary branches in a brotherly fashion, repealing unnecessary and problematic laws and avoiding the multiplication of laws are the other words of advice that I wish to present to you, representatives of the nation. I am confident that observing these key points will prove to the people of Iran that they have made the right choice and will give them more incentive to participate in elections. You should regard piety, and reliance on and trust in God as your inexhaustible asset and you should move in a powerful and serious manner. May God support you.

I deem it necessary to thank the honorable members of Majlis from the previous term – in particular, its motivated and diligent Speaker, Dr. Larijani – and I ask God to bestow His rewards for every good deed that they accomplished.

God’s peace and greetings be upon the Imam of the Age (may my soul be sacrificed for his sake) and may divine mercy and forgiveness be showered on the pure souls of martyrs and their Imam and leader – Hazrat Imam Khomeini.

Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings

Sayyid Ali Khamenei

Khordad 6, 1399

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Priorities of the new Parliament: justice, employment, production and the national currency

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