Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 27, 1997

The Minister of State and his deputies and managers and governors came. Mr. [Ali Mohammad] Basharti [Interior Minister] reported. The plaque of gratitude that the governors and directors of the Ministry of Interior brought to me was read. Mr. [Gholamreza] Aghazadeh, [Minister of Oil], [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh, [Chairman of the Central Bank] and [Ahmed] Azizi, [Deputy Deputy of the Central Bank] came. There was a discussion about the two phases of the South Pars project, should we give it to foreign or domestic contractors? After calculating the costs and political and security concessions and the speed of action, the opinion of the Central Bank and the [Oil] Ministry was to give two phases to the French and British and the other two phases to the domestic ones. Mr. Aghazadeh reported the trip to Kuwait and Qatar and the high cost of the gas project in Qatar.

Mr. [Abd al-Nabi] Namazi, the representative of the [Assembly] of experts came from Bushehr province and gave recommendations about the province in relation to my trip; He disagrees with the governor. Dr. [Hasan] Habibi came. Reported the trip to Greece and canceled the trip to South Korea due to the resignation of that country's cabinet. They talked about the elections and finally, he remains on his previous decision of not running. In the evening, I did not participate in the meeting of the government board; To complete the work and prepare for the trip to Bushehr. By eight o'clock in the evening, I completed the work.

At night, I went to Akhtar Hospital to install dental veneers. I signed the invitation letters of some heads of Islamic countries for the [Organization of the Islamic Conference] summit; Although the meeting is still not definite. It was done with the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and leadership.