Underneath the bluster and sabre-rattling we’ve become accustomed to on the international stage (and the strange rediscovery of the 80s-era Members Only jacket that’s come along with it), Iran’s domestic privatization agenda continues apace. Next up, partial postal privatization:
Iran’s government today charged the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology with forming a government-run postal organization, which will take over some of the services offered by the existing state-controlled Iran Postal Service Company. The decision is in line with the government’s plan to privatize some sectors of the country’s economy based on article 44 of the Islamic Republic’s constitution, which states that the country’s economy is comprised of “private, cooperative, and government sectors.” Iran began to privatize its largely state-run economy during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [1989-1997]. The official IRNA news agency reports that according to the government’s newly ratified law, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is required to institute an “Organization of Nationalized Postal Services.” Under the plan, “the main job of sorting, exchanges, communication and management of the distribution” of the current company will be taken over by the new postal organization and will remain in government control while the remainder of the activities of the postal service will be privatized. According to the minister of communications and information technology, Mohammad Soleimani, the two postal companies will consist of “a parent company that will be subsidized by the government and will remain under government control and a private company, which will offer various postal services at private market rates.”