MINUTES OF THE MEETING

Follow-up Meeting on Joint ICT & IT Projects between UNIDO & Iran about Job
Creation
7 February 2018, Wednesday, 14:00 16:15 hrs at Ministry of Industry, Mine & Trade
Iran, Tehran

A: Agenda Topics/ Purpose of Meeting

 To follow-up on projects with UNIDO and give a progress report to Iranian officials
about joint ventures.

B: Attendees
NAMES INSTITUTION E- MAIL
Mehdi Mirsalehi Director General of
Industrial Property Office in
Ministry of Industry
Isa Mansouri Deputy chief of Labor
Ministry's Employment &
Entrepreneurship
Development Office
Rashid Bayat Mokhtari Iran’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Barat Qobadian Deputy Chief for Education,
Research & Technology at
the Ministry of Industry,
Mine and Trade
Ladan Dabir UNIDO’s Monitoring &
Evaluation Expert
Neda Shishavi UNIDO’s Sector
Development Expert
Information Technology
Mohammad Abdeh Abtahi UNIDO’s National
Coordinator IT Sector
Development
Mahmoud Hassani UNIDO Intern
Mr. Hatami UNIDO’s Contact Person at
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Mr. Mohammadi UNIDO’s Contact Person at
Ministry of Industry, Mine
and Trade
Mr. Mohammadi IT Engineer, Iran’s Ministry
of Industry, Mine & Trade

C: Summary of discussions
 MINUTES OF THE MEETING

Ms. Dabir (UNIDO’s Monitoring & Evaluation Expert)

 Stated that the session has been devoted to information technology in which they have
started the pilot work in Kurdistan and now they are implementing the project in 6
provinces across the country.
Mr. Mirsalehi (Director General of Industrial Property Office in Ministry of Industry)
 Gave a summary of joint projects with UNIDO including the projects on clothing and
footwear in Mashhad, tourism in Semnan & Kermanshah.
 Stressed on the need to get a progress report on the projects more often.
Mr. Qobadian (Deputy Chief for Education, Research and Technology at the Ministry of
Industry, Mine and Trade)
 Demanded that weekly sessions be held on the projects’ progress report.
 Stressed that IT and ICT sectors can create the most number of jobs in compared to
other sectors if enough attention is paid.
 Noted that there are a lot of shortcomings in Iran regarding to providing information
and statistics on various topics which are crucial to policymaking and planning.
 Highlighted the importance of Industry 4.0 and how much Iran is behind in this sector
in comparison to other regional countries like UAE.
Mr. Mansouri (Deputy chief of Labor Ministry's Employment & Entrepreneurship
Development Office)
 Expressed regret that major Iranian tech companies are absent from international
markets.
 Noted that international regulations hamper the presence of Iranian companies on
international level.
 Called for linking major Iranian firms with international companies so that Iranian
companies can enter international markets.
 Highlighted the importance of sustainability of the cooperation between Iranian and
foreign firms.
 Described content-production as the most important sector in IT which he said has the
potential to create sustainable employment.
 Stated that there is a need to identify in which area of ICT sector (e.g. programming,
creating animation) each province has more capability.
 Explained more about accelerators, how they are financed as well as their
mechanisms.
 Hailed the creation of accelerators in a number of provinces and referred to the huge
potentials that they have for creating jobs.
 Stressed that the private sector provides the necessary finances for the projects and
accelerators.
Mr. Bayat Mokhtari (Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
 Hailed UNIDO’s role in Iran that he said has brought about positive change.
 Noted that the UN body has a very new and valuable mindset that is very different
from the traditional outlook of Iranians.
 Stressed that all projects should be in cooperation with an Iranian reference (meaning
an Iranian organization or body) so that it’s activities be monitored.
 Stated that the Foreign Ministry should be involved in the process of the projects and
criticized that this session was the first time the foreign ministry has been briefed on
 MINUTES OF THE MEETING

the projects.
Mr. Abtahi (UNIDO’s National Coordinator IT Sector Development)
 Introduced the framework that was used as the basis for UNIDO’s conduct.
 Noted that the IT and ICT sectors have huge potentials. He said UNIDIO has
developed a national plan with ICT ministry to create 100,000 jobs in this area.
 Stated that UNIDO aims to expand the role of Iranian companies in both domestic
and international markets.
 Stated that UNIDO has identified pioneer IT companies in Iran, prepared a joint
action plan with them and continues to encourage them to be more active across the
country.
 Stressed that there is a wide gap between graduates and job availability in many
provinces of Iran. He said to solve this problem, one of UNIDO’s priorities is to help
the creation of start-up businesses and SMEs and to support them.
 Stressed that UNIDO is doing what he described as matchmaking between companies
that are active in provinces other than Tehran with leading Iranian pioneer firms. He
said linking these two together will help small firms expand and create jobs in cities
other than the capital. He highlighted that 1400 jobs have been created in this process
so far.
 Added that this matchmaking also takes place between Iranian companies and
international companies so that Iranian firms can be active on international level. He
said UNIDO has the facilitator role in this process.
 Noted that UNIDO’s efforts is also focused on helping the launch of start-up
ecosystems and developing the ones that already exist.
 Gave a brief summary about the UN body’s actions in Kurdistan including its training
and evaluation programs.
 Noted that UNIDO’s negotiations with Iranian ICT companies has led to their
presence in seven provinces. Furthermore, he added that agreements were signed with
local authorities to facilitate their activities.
 Stressed that they also discussed a plan for the presence of ICT companies in villages.
He said a framework agreement was reached in this area and at least 10 companies
have expressed willingness to cooperate in this regard. He said if the plan becomes
operational, 10,000 jobs will be created, noting that it will be implemented in up to
one and half years.
 Highlighted that UNIDO has created a complete database about SMEs in six
provinces and prepared a list of pioneer companies that has the potential to be active
in the international arena. He added that UNIDO has also prepared a list of foreign
investors who are ready to cooperate with Iranian firms in this regard.
 Highlighted UNIDO’s efforts on the issue of content-production, citing as an example
creation of two consortiums in Khuzestan that each are consisted of 8 companies on
content-production.
 Stated that UNIDO encourages local firms to launch start-up accelerators. He said the
UN body has been mostly successful in this regard. He cited as an example Khorasan,
Kurdistan and Yazd.
 Noted that the private sector is in charge of the accelerators and their financing.
 Highlighted that computer games sector have a lot of potentials and that domestic
production in this regard has very little share.
 MINUTES OF THE MEETING

D: Conclusion
 It was agreed that the next session will be held on February 21 and mostly focus on the
joint project with UNIDO on beekeeping.