Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 30, 1993

Association of Public Administration Graduates came. Mr. [Mansour] Razavi gave a report on management training and explained the importance of manager training and the disadvantages of weak managers, and demanded the recognition of the Ministry of Science for promotion to higher scientific degrees. I encouraged them.

Mr. [Abbasali] Vakili, [the head of the headquarters for handling the affairs of the freedmen], came to report on the situation of the freedmen. He expressed his readiness to liquidate or continue the work of the headquarters and said that he had saved money in kind from the headquarters' credits. He used his father's endowment to build a cultural complex.

[Mr. Seyed Mahmoud Da'ai, Mehdi Nasiri, Morteza Nabavi, Ghafoor Garshasbi and Masih Mohajeri], the editors of the newspapers, Information, Keihan, Resalat, Abrar and the Islamic Republic came. They applied for the needs arising from the single rate of the currency and got acquainted with the policies of the country; I promised to help. I warned Mr. [Masih] Mohajeri because of his extremism on the issue of Saudi Arabia.

In the evening, the government board had a meeting. The plan of using our purchasing power to get concessions from the trading countries was reviewed and approved. I was the guest of Ayatollah Khamenei last night. We negotiated about confiscations as well as the orders of the Assembly for Expediency and Elections. Regarding the issue with Saudi Arabia, it was decided to act in such a way that next year's Hajj will not be jeopardized, while maintaining the level of protest and debt, and try to get the permission [to hold the ceremony] of acquittal [of the polytheists].