Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 28, 1998

Before noon, all the time was spent on Nowruz Eid visits and traveling to Mecca. Ministers, deputies and managers came from the government, the leadership office, the assembly and the ministries. There was no opportunity for discussion and negotiation due to a lot of going back and forth. There was a little talk about the reason for Saudi Arabia's cooperation in the matter of oil, and I said that they are acting according to the agreements we made in Riyadh. I asked the ministers to take cooperation with Saudi Arabia seriously.

In the reports, the Bharatiya Janata Party is interested in getting the majority vote in the Indian Parliament. All the time today, the parliament's deliberations were broadcast live by Indian satellites. The evening was spent reading the bulletins.

Mr. [Syed Ali Asghar] Hijazi from the leadership office praised the important achievements of his trip to Saudi Arabia, praising the relations and [solving] the oil problem, and especially the removal of Mr. [Sheikh Ali Abdurrahman] Huzafi from the Imamate of Medina Mosque. This issue was in the statements of many visitors today. Little by little, they become aware of the effects of travel, and its ambiguous status becomes a positive and constructive movement.

Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Mirmohammadi complained why we did not take him; Considering that most of the members of the office were accompanied. Mr. [Mohammed] Shariatmadari, Minister of Commerce, thanked that a solution was opened and he became the head of the joint commission. Mr. Dr. [Mustafa] Moein, [Minister of Culture and Higher Education], said that he has started a movement for cooperation at the level of universities and said that Saudi Arabia is ahead of us in preparing international scientific articles.