President described working towards self-sufficiency as practical fight against imperialism and major powers, adding, “Sanctions are aimed at reducing the growth of technology in our country”.

Addressing managers of knowledge enterprises and start-ups on Saturday, Dr Hassan Rouhani said, “We need to use sanctions as an opportunity for the growth of technology in our country”.

He added, “The United States developed by attracting experts from all over the world when it hadn’t yet put up walls around itself; but when a country puts up walls around itself, it won’t make any progress”.

The President described freedom of thought as the most important infrastructure for progress in science, society and politics, adding, “We believe that development in science and technology happens under freedom”.

Appreciating the work of knowledge enterprises and Presidential Deputy for Science and Technology, Dr Rouhani said, “In the past 5 years, very good work has been done in science and technology”.

“One of the responsibilities of the government is facilitating communication with the world,” he continued.

The President added, “In such conditions, some countries are thinking about putting up a wall in their borders, while they don’t know that all the progress they have made was because of not having walls”.

He added, “A country that puts up a wall around itself will definitely not make any progress; therefore, we need to have close relations with different intellectuals from different countries”.

Dr Rouhani also went on to say, “Every new technology that is built inside the country has to be exported after supplying the domestic demands”.

Referring to sanctions, he said, “Some countries think that sanctions are a way for reducing the pace of development in a country”.

“Of course, this increases motivation for us in the country, so that we can produce the part we used to import,” said the President.

He also said, “We need to help knowledge enterprises in different fields such as insurance, tax, loans and other fields to achieve our desired result”.

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