February 25, 2007	Sunday	Safar 7, 1428

TEHRAN, Feb 24: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday pledged to drive ahead privatisation in Iran following criticism by the supreme leader of the sluggish opening-up of its economy to the private sector.

“The government is determined to open all avenues and unscrew every bolt to implement article 44 of the constitution,” state television quoted Ahmadinejad as telling a meeting of leaders from the engineering sector.

Article 44 of the Islamic republic's constitution refers to the public and private sectors of the Iranian economy and speaks of private ownership in industry, agriculture and services.

However the state currently has a grip on over three-quarters of Iran's economy and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year issued a decree envisaging a major programme of privatisation.

“The government is ready to use educated forces from the private sector to build dams, power plants and infrastructure,” Ahmadinejad added.

Khamenei had on Monday described the actions undertaken to implement article 44 as unsatisfactory, saying that not enough attention was being paid to “creating a major evolution in the country's economy.”

”Those that are hostile to these policies are those who are going to lose their interests and influence,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei's August 2006 order to privatise 80 per cent of public and state institutions notably excludes firms in the oil and energy sector as well as industries involved in work connected to defence and security.

Ahmadinejad's government has until now been seen by observers to be dragging its feet on privatisation.

Under a plan criticised by economists, the government has been seeking to hand out a large proportion of the shares in privatised companies as “justice” shares to the poor.

However, the president defended the government’s record, saying it had granted shares in state companies to people totalling around $2.7 billion through the stock market and justice shares.—AFP