Coll 28/97(2) ‘Persia; Diaries. Tehran Intelligence summaries. No 1 to 50 of 1946.’ [‎32v] (64/292)

Economic.
9. The Prime Minister has formed a Supreme Economic Council under his
own chairmanship, the vice-chairman being the Minister for Commerce and
Industry. Hazhir, A. H. Ibtehaj, Dr. Amini, Bader, Nikpur, Ali Vakili and
some prominent merchants are the members. This is the second venture of its
kind, the formation of a former Supreme Economic Council having been reported
in Intelligence Summary No. 15 of April 1945. The main objects of the council
are to raise the general standard of living and to ensure an equitable distribution
of the country’s produce. The specific measures, for which the council has been
charged to draw up plans, include the following :—
(а) Increase in exports, with particular attention to packing. Prices must
conform to international levels and, if necessary, subsidies are to be
granted.
(б) Imports must, in principle, be subject to quota, primarily to avoid compe
tition with natiohal products.
(c) The establishment of a plan for developing national industries.
(^) The improvement of the relations between employers and employees. In
this connexion it is proposed to seek guidance and technical assistance
from the I.L.O.
(e) A five-year plan is to be drawn up whereby municipalities can finance
public services such as lighting, drainage, drinking water, telephone
systems.
(/) A minimum wage to be fixed for peasants.
(g) Crown lands are to be sold to smallholders.
{h) Irrigation schemes are to be developed.
(i) Mining research and development to be carried out under national control.
In cases where legislation is required the Prime Minister states that the council’s
recommendations will be made effective by Cabinet decree, parliamentary sanction
being sought later. The Economic Council will, in case of need, consult the
Economic Committee of U.N.O. which will be requested, where necessary, to assist
with expert advice.
The selection of members is on the whole a good one, the Secretary-General
being Amini, a former Deputy Prime Minister who is competent and honest.
Taken at its face value there is much in the programme to command support
but to bolster up inefficient local industries and to protect them against imports
is a thoroughly retrograde step. The cynically minded and those with previous
experience of the fate and achievements of similar bodies in the past will see in
these pronouncements a piece of political window-dressing forced upon the Prime
Minister by the pressure of outside events and primarily designed to steal the
Tudeh thunder.
Communications.
10. The breaches in the I.S. Railway between Andimishk and Ahwaz caused
by floods in the Karkheh River have been repaired and through running was
resumed on the 25th March.
11. As was to be expected, a sharp deterioration in the condition of Persia’s
highways has set in since the British military authorities handed them back to
the Ministry of Roads and Communications. On a recent trip to Meshed and
back the British Military Attache found this road in a shocking state. Practi
cally no maintenance was being carried out, and along the entire length of over
600 miles not more than seventy labourers were seen. The section Firuzkuh-
Semnan has been abandoned and after the spring rains it will disintegrate and
become impassible. All traffic now proceeds via Garmsar.
Appointments.
12.—(i) Sarhang (Colonel) Dinbilli to be Military Public Prosecutor.
(ii) Sarhang (Colonel) Vali Ansari to be chief of the General Staff
secretariat.
(iii) Sarhang (Colonel) Hasan Qadimi from the General Staff to be attached
to the Ministry for War.
(iv) Sartip (Brigadier) Saif (late Chief Prefect of Police) to be the liaison
officer between the Prime Minister and Colonel Schwarzkopf.
American adviser to the gendarmerie. Since the dismissal of Sartip
Khosropanah (reported in Intelligence Summary No. 8, paragraph 8)
no new chief of the gendarmerie has been appointed.