Tehran - Iran's President, Mr Mohammad Khatami, pledged yesterday to shake up the country's "sedate" bureaucracy as part of his five-year reform plan to revive Iran's flagging economy.
"Bureaucratic management in our country is in need of a breakthrough. The invaluable services of our public servants and administrators are going to waste. We must take this leap," he said.
Mr Khatami's comments, made to a group of civil servants to mark "Government Week", were broadcast on state radio. The government uses the annual event to highlight economic progress in Iran, which is grappling with recession, inflation and unemployment. "We are not getting results in proportion to the hard work our employees put in. Our enthusiastic and hardworking administrators are locked in a sedate, inert, sluggish and overlapping bureaucratic system," he said.
