According to ICT Ministry’s Public Relation center, the Communication Minister first referred to the subject of nuclear agreement during the First National Seminar on USO of ICT in Rural Areas, stating that: “Through the support of Iranian people and the wise guidance of the Esteemed Supreme Leader, we have been able to achieve favorable results in nuclear negotiations.”
He expressed pleasure for the holding of this seminar, saying: “I propose that this event is continued, held once a year.”
Vaezi added: “I hope the outcome of these discussions, deliberations, and exchange of experiences will be good results for our dear villagers.”
The ICT Minister emphasized on the necessity of defining a strategic document on rural ICT, saying: “In the continuation of this seminar, defining this strategic document can be very helpful.”
Vaezi thanked provincial governors for their presence in this seminar, saying: “Now that we are getting close to government commemoration week, taking into consideration the successes of the government of wisdom and hope, and the constant support of our people, once again like President Rouhani we have to consider this the government of all Iranians.”
Emphasized that the things being done in rural areas are not publicity stunts, The ICT Minister asserted that: “We changed the mission and mandate of the Postbank from the day we took this office.”
He added: “Postbank is not supposed to compete with other banks, since its directive states that it has to provide its services to rural and less developed areas, thus being able to create employment in the villages of Iran.”
The Minister of Communication and Information Technology, pointing out that we wouldn’t need a strategic document if we were only going to take simple telecommunication connection to our villages, said that: “Presently, more than 90 percent of villages in Iran have phone connections; and I can say that we have connected every home in villages of more than 20 household, and in case of smaller places also there is at least one public phone available in the village.”
He included that: “Growth and development of the internet in rural areas has resulted in increasing indicators, and things such as e-education and e-health have found their way to our villages.”
Vaezi expressed that: “We intend to join and connect all the data-centers of the country to each other through cloud computing format so that all villages and cities will have access to information with the same speed.”
Emphasizing that the flow of immigration from rural areas and border regions must be contained, Vaezi expressed that: “Nowadays close to 70 percent of our population lives in urban and 30 percent in rural areas which, compared to the 50 percent criteria of previous years, is by no means a good figure.”
The ICT Minister referred to the growth of internet in Iranian villages and said: “Last year we managed to connect 8 thousand villages to internet network, and connecting another 25 thousand is on the agenda for this year, therefore by the end of this year all the villages of more than 20 household are going to be connected to our network.”
At the conclusion, he mentioned the investments made in rural areas, saying: “Last year we spend 2.4 Trillion Rials for villages, a figure which will reach 3.34 Trillion Rials this year.”