Tehran, Jan 14, IRNA -- The reformist-dominated Iranian parliament
(Majlis) certified Sunday the election of all five nominees proposed
by President Mohammad Khatami for cabinet positions.
After deliberations, Majlis gave a vote of confidence to all
nominees proposed on January 13.
Ahmad Masjed-Jamei, nominated for the Ministry of Culture and
Islamic Guidance, received 214 votes in favor, 27 against while 12
remained abstained. He was nominated as Khatami's candidate for the
ministry after the reform-minded Ataollah Mohajerani was forced out
under pressure from opponents.
Eshaq Jahangiri, ex-minister of mines and metals, nominated for
the newly created Ministry of Industries and Mines, won 210 votes in
favor, 35 against with 10 abstentions.
189 MPs endorsed Mahmoud Hojjati and 55 cast votes against him.
11 remained abstained. He will take over the new Ministry for
Agricultural Jihad (Crusade), combining construction jihad and
agriculture.
The little known Rahman Dadman who will take Hojjati's current
post as minister of roads and transport, won 223 votes in favor
and 25 against with 7 abstentions.
Ahmad Motamedi, a technocrat, who will become the new telecoms
minister, received 202 votes in favor, 38 against. 15 remained
abstained.
Khatami has twice warned against certain groups "looking to
deceive the population and the youth on ... the realization of their
rights," and said he lacked "sufficient power" in office.
The reformist president has yet to announce formally that he will
seek a second-term, the maximum allowed under the Iranian
constitution.
Mohammad Khatami was elected president on May 23, 1997 by over 20
million votes (69 percent of the total cast), for a four-year term
which ends next May.
In late July, he made known his intention to run for the second
time in office and said he would come up with an even "more developed
program for reforms."
Biography of new PTT minister
Tehran, Jan 14, IRNA -- The appointment of Ahmad Mo'tamedi as
Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones by President Mohammad
Khatami was confirmed by the Majlis on Sunday. A resume of his life
and achievements is as follows:
Ahmad Mo'tamedi was born in 1953 in the capital city of Tehran.
He graduated from Amir Kabir University (formerly Polytechnic)
with a degree in electronics in 1978.
He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics from
the French University of Pierre and Marie Curie in 1980
and 1983, respectively.
He has been a member of the academic board of the University of
Amir Kabir since 1984.
Mo'tamedi had been serving as deputy minister of science and
higher education and head of the Organization for Scientific and
Industrial Research since 1986.
He served a 4-month prison term in 1975 as a political prisoner
during the former Shah's regime.
Mo'tamedi was a founding member of the Association of Islamic
Students in Paris and a member of the Union of Islamic Associations
of Students in Europe.
He served for several years as head of the War Committee of the
Ministry of Science and Higher Education during the imposed war.
Biography of new roads and transport minister
Tehran, Jan 14, IRNA -- The new Minister of Roads and Transportation,
Rahman Dadman, was born in 1956 in the northwestern city of Ardebil
where he also finished his primary and secondary schooling.
In 1974 he entered the School of Technical Sciences of the
University of Tehran and graduated with an MS in 1986. He then went to
England for doctoral studies and obtained his Ph.D. in civil
engineering from Manchester University.
In recent years he has served in various positions at the Islamic
Republic's Guard Corps (IRGC), occupying the positions of manager
of the operations headquarters of the IRGC and deputy IRGC minister
for logistic affairs in various periods. He has also served as deputy
construction jihad minister for educational affairs.
When President Khatami formed his cabinet in 1997, his appointed
Minister of Roads and Transformations, Mahmoud Hojjati, proposed Dr.
Dadman as managing director of the Railroads Organization of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, a post which he still holds.
Biography of new minister of mines and industries
Tehran, Jan 14, IRNA -- Eshaq Jahangiri, the new Minister of Mines
and Industries, was born to a religious family in Sirjan, a city in
southeastern Iran, in 1957.
He holds an MS in industrial management from Sharif Technical
University in Tehran.
Jahangiri represented Jiroft in the second and third Majlis.
During the Iraqi-imposed war, he was appointed to the position of
supreme economic adviser to the then commander-in-chief of the
Iranian Armed Forces, a post which he held for a long time.
He was appointed governor-general of Isfahan province and
served from 1992-1997. He later joined the cabinet of President
Khatami as minister of mines and metals and has since been serving
in this capacity.
Following a government decision to merge confluent ministries and
organizations and after Majlis approved a proposal to merge the
Ministries of Industries with the Mines and Metals, Jahangiri is
now being proposed by the president as minister to head the new
ministry.
Biography of minister of agricultural jihad
Tehran, Jan 14, IRNA -- The life and achievements of Mahmoud Hojjati,
the newly confirmed Minister of Agricultural Jihad in President
Mohammad Khatami's cabinet, may be summarized as follows:
He was born in 1955 in the city of Najaf-abad in the central
province of Isfahan.
Hojjati entered Sharif Industrial University in Isfahan
in 1975 and took up a course in civil engineering.
During his stint at the university he joined political activities
launched by Islamic students which led to his expulsion from the
college in 1977.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 Hojjati
succeeded in finishing his course and graduated from the
university.
The minister from 1979 handled a number of positions in the
then newly established Construction Jihad in Chaharmahal and
Bakhtiari province as well as in Tehran and Isfahan.
Hojjati became a member of the central council of the country's
Construction Jihad in 1985 and was actively present in war fronts
against the Iraqi invaders during the eight years of sacred
defense (1980-1988).
In 1989 he was appointed as governor-general of the southeastern
province of Sistan and Baluchestan, a job he held for more than
five years.
He was appointed by President Khatami as minister of roads
and transport in August 1997, a post which he held until his
current appointment as head of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad.
The Ministry of Agriculture Jihad is a new ministry created as
a result of a merger between the ministries of construction jihad and
agriculture and approved by the Majlis.
Biography of new culture minister
Tehran, Jan 14, IRNA -- Ahmad Masjed Jamei is the new Minister of
Culture and Islamic Guidance in President Mohammad Khatami's cabinet.
His appointment was confirmed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly
(Majlis) on Sunday.
Masjed Jamei was born to a religious family in the holy city of
Mashhad, capital of Khorasan province, in 1956.
He has an MA in geography from the University of Tehran.
He began his socio-cultural activities before the victory of the
Islamic Revolution as editor-in-chief of a student magazine called
`Falaq' (Dawn).
When President Khatami was the minister of Culture and Islamic
Guidance (1982-1992), he worked at the ministry as his deputy in
charge of cultural affairs.
Masjed Jamei's previous positions include those of deputy
minister of culture for research and academic affairs, chairman
of the Supreme Council for Cultural Affairs, first deputy culture
minister and presidential advisor for youth affairs.
He has had a distinguished career in journalism, having been a
licensed publisher and managing director of a literary monthly and a
managing director of a number of cultural periodicals.
The new minster of culture and Islamic guidance has also been
decorated with the national Medal of Arts and Culture by President
Khatami in 1996.
