High-level Symposium on

Industrial and Trade Policies:

Promoting Exports and Developing Employment in Iran

Tehran—10th and 11th of October 2015

 

Objectives and Topics

The event will facilitate frank and open high-level discussions on the need for a package of industrial and trade policies complementary to the macroeconomic measures adopted by the government that can ensure longer-term, export-oriented, and pro-employment growth in Iran. It is specifically hoped that international experiences will impact Iran’s economic policy making in major ways at this crucial time. The purpose of the event is thus two-fold:

• Promoting discussions on integrated industrial and trade policies for sustainable, exportoriented, and pro-employment growth in Iran.
• Providing industrial and trade policy suggestions that will contribute to the preparation of the Sixth Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plan of Iran.

Main Topics

• Future prospects for global and regional commerce, manufacturing, and exports: Iran’s opportunities and challenges
• Benchmarking successful experiences in international trade and industrial policies in Iran
• Iran’s oil-based economic development experiences and their dampening effect on its industrialization trajectory, export performance, and employment
• Earlier experiences in Iran with sector/industry targeting policies and incentive structures
• Current macroeconomic measures adopted by the government and their relation to trade and industrial policies
• Selection mechanisms for sector-targeting and incentive packages for export promotion and employment development
• Macroeconomic measures and investment climate supporting export-oriented and pro-employment industrial and trade policies
• Capability-enhancement measures in the framework of an industrial and trade policy
• The need for mutually supporting industrial and trade policies for sustained, export-oriented, and pro-employment growth through productive transformation
• Selecting target sectors, shaping industrial structure, and formulating incentive packages in the preparation for WTO accession (as Iran is the biggest economy outside of WTO)
• Options for Industrial transformation of Iran in the post-sanctions era
• Ensuring an integrated human capital and economic development framework in Iran for raising total factor productivity—through integrated industry and trade policies
• Identifying biased technical change and solutions to ensure full employment

 

First Day: Saturday, 10th  of October 2015

Opening ceremony with the presence of national high -ranking authorities and the speech by honorable Mr. Nematzadeh, the minister of industry, mine and trade (8:00-10:00)

 

Plenary Session I: Industrial Policies; Lessons for Iran (10:15-12:00)

Statement by Gary Lewis (UNDP Resident Coordinator and UN Resident Representative in Iran)
Topic: "Industrial Policy and Sustainable Development (Opening Remarks)"

Keynote speech by Justin Yifu Lin (Professor and Honorary Dean, National School of Development, Peking University)
Title: “Industrial Policy Revisited: A New Structural Perspective”

National report presentation by Mohammad R. Razavi (Director, Institute for Trade Studies and Research/ITSR)

Topic: "Export -Oriented industrial Development in Iran"

 

Plenary Session II: Impacts of Economic Policies on Export -Oriented Industrial Development in Iran (14:00-16:15)

Massoud Nili (Professor of Economics at Sharif University of Technology, Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs, Director of Higher Institute for Training and Research on Management and Planning)
Topic: "Macro -economic management and prospects for industrial and trade development of Iran"

Behruz Hadi Zonuz (Professor of Economics, Allameh Tabatabai University)
Topic: “Role of Exchange Rate and Trade Orientation in Iranian Industrial Policy”

 

Plenary Session III: Diversifying exports and moving up the global value chain: Challenges and international lessons for Iran (16:00-18:00)

Zakariah Abdul Rashid (Emeritus Professor and Executive Director of Malaysian Institute of Economic Research/MEIR, Malaysia)
Title: "Malaysian Experience in Moving up the Global Value Chain in Resource -Based Industries"

Akifumi Kuchiki (Department of International Development Studies, College of Biosources Sciences, Nihon University, Japan)
Topic: “The Role of Industrial Clusters in Export Diversification and Moving up the Global Value Chain”

Morteza Imani Rad & Siamak Qasemi
Topic: "The global value chain and prospects for Iranian industries"

 

Second Day: Sunday, 11thof October 2015

 

Plenary Session IV: Export -Oriented Industrial Policy Requirements (8:30-9:45)

Keynote speech by Célestin Monga (Managing Director, Program Support and General Management Division, UNIDO)
Topic: "Industrial policy requirements"

Imgard Nubler
Title: “Capabilities for Productive Transformation and Employment”

 

Plenary Session V: Toward a Trade Policy Framework for Iran (9:45-12:00)

Sadeq Z. Bigdeli (Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, New Zealand)
Topic: "International trade law framework and Iran’s trade prospects"

Mina Mashayekhi (Head of Trade Negotiations and Commercial Diplomacy Branch, Division on International Trade in Goods, Services, and Commodities, UNCTAD)
Title: “Iran Trade Policies Connecting to the Markets”

Mehdi Shafaeddin (International Industrial Policy Advisor)
Title: “Development Strategy and Policies for an Oil Exporting Country: Prospects and Challenges of Industrialization and Employment Creation in Iran”

 

Plenary Session VI: Capability Accumulation, Employment Development, and Inclusive Growth (14:00-16:45)

Gholam Ali Farjadi (Professor of Economics, Higher Institute for Training and Research on Management and Planning) & Ali Reza Amini (Research Fellow, Institute for Trade Studies and Research)
Topic: "Higher Education and the Development of Capabilities in Iran"

Nadereh Chamlou (International Development Advisor and former Senior Advisor, The World Bank)
Title: “The Important Role of Women in Iran’s Economic and Industrial Policies for Coming Decade”

Tim Scott (Policy Advisor, Natural Capital and the Environment, Sustainable Development Cluster
Bureau for Policy and Program Support, UNDP)
Title: "Inclusive, Environmentally Sustainable Growth and Industrial Development"

Pooya Alaedini (Associate Professor, Department of Social Planning, University of Tehran)
& Hamid R. Ashrafzadeh (Associate Professor, Institute for Trade Studies and Research)

Topic: "Resource-based industrialization and capability accumulation in Iran"

 

Closing ceremony with the presence of national high -ranking authorities.