Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - July 24, 2000 - Meeting with Mohammad Reza Rahimi Accompanied by Yasser Hashemi and Consultation on Responding to Critical Press

Meeting with Mohammad Reza Rahimi Accompanied by Yasser Hashemi and Consultation on Responding to Critical Press
Meeting with Isa Kalantari and a Report on the Upcoming Merger of the Ministries of Agriculture and Jihad Agriculture
Consultative Meeting with Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi
Meeting with Ali Asghar Khaji on the Eve of His Diplomatic Mission to Riyadh

Dr. [Isa] Kalantari, the Minister of Agriculture, came. He said that, based on the mandate of Parliament, the government is determined to merge the ministries of Jihad [Sazandegi] and Agriculture, and President Khatami has requested that he serve as the minister of the new ministry, with Mr. [Mohammad] Saeedi-Kia [Minister of Jihad Sazandegi] as his deputy. However, Kalantari has refused, suggesting that to prevent friction between the employees of the two ministries, it would be better for a third person, outside of both ministries, to be appointed as the minister. I emphasized that he should accept.

He said working in this government is difficult because there is no attention to production and development. He mentioned that, in the Economic Council session yesterday, there was a discussion about reducing some of the state rates that had been increased by law, for the sake of future election campaigns.

Regarding the salinity of water in Abadan, he said that due to the reduction of water in the Tigris, Euphrates, and Karun rivers, the pressure of seawater on the Arvand and Bahmanshir rivers has increased. This issue is wrongly being attributed to the Khuzestan sugarcane project. He requested that I visit an interesting garden in the outskirts of Tehran.

Mr. [Abbas] Akhoundi [former Minister of Housing and Urban Development] came. He suggested that five countries — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and the UAE — should jointly invest in oil and gas development projects through the private sector to counter the $100 billion investment announced by Saudi Arabia, which could disrupt the regional balance.

He also mentioned that a group of academics, industrialists, and bureaucrats are interested in forming a true right-wing party based on the idea of strengthening the private sector, but they are concerned about possible interference, like what happened to the [Executives of Construction Party]. I said there is a possibility of interference, but if they believe it is for the greater good, they should not fear the risks.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Ali Asghar] Khaji, our new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, came. He said that experts from both countries credit me as the initiator of the new positive relations and asked that I continue to support the improvement of these relations. He added that the behavior of Mr. [Mohammad Mohammadi] Reyshahri [the Leader’s representative and supervisor of Iranian Hajj pilgrims], negative comments from some newspapers, and Iran's lack of readiness to include cooperation in addressing the disputes between the two countries and the security cooperation agreement are hindering progress. I advised him, as an ambassador, to work on strengthening the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, as it is important for both the region and the two nations.

Yasser and Mr. [Mohammad Reza] Rahimi [former governor of Kurdistan] came. They sought guidance on how to respond to past negative press attacks.