TEHRAN -- Iran has begun handing out free shares of state-owned enterprises to poor people as part of an innovative privatization program meant to boost the economy and raise the standard of living.

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said here on Saturday that the initial stage of the program is the beginning of a major development for Iranian society and a measure aimed at reaching the goal of fair distribution of wealth.

The chief executive made the remarks at a conference marking the official inauguration of the plan to hand out ‘justice’ shares.

He called public participation in national development, the promotion of justice, and downsizing government the basic goals of the measure.

Ahmadinejad went on to say that all Iranians should take part in national development.

The president explained that the shares in state-owned enterprises would eventually be sold to people from all walks of life, with 50 percent allocated to people from the low-income bracket, adding that the plan has been authorized by the Supreme Leader.

He called on the people being given stocks to hold on to them in order to make profits.

During the conference, the documents of 4.6 million stocks issued in the name of the future provincial stockholders were delivered to the managing directors of the cooperatives of the country’s 30 provinces.

Justice promotes security, social integration

Ahmadinejad called justice the cornerstone of the country and said it promotes national security and social integration.

Commenting on the government's plans to promote justice in the country, which he called its main task, he told reporters that it should do its best to materialize this goal.

Ahmadinejad stressed that justice is not an individual thing but is an ideal for all humanity.

The president said that the remaining shares of state-owned enterprises would be sold to individuals and private sector companies, adding that Iran's economy will be revolutionized when the goal is attained, which will be in the interests of the people.

People expect govt. to promote justice: Majlis speaker

Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel also spoke at the conference, saying that the promotion of justice is the hottest topic of conversation in Iranian society, adding that people expect this goal to be materialized.

Calling the motto of justice the main factor contributing to the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he said that during the demonstrations staged at the beginning of the revolution, people sought the promotion of social justice more than anything else.

Haddad-Adel referred to all of the ups and downs the Islamic Revolution has experienced over the past 27 years while attempting to achieve this goal and said that a few years after the victory, the goal of justice was overshadowed by other issues.

The parliament speaker expressed hope that the goal would be fully materialized one day.

The conference was also attended by First Vice President Parviz Davudi, a number of cabinet ministers, MPs, provincial governor-generals, managing directors of provincial cooperatives, and the managers of regional offices of the ‘justice’ stock companies.