TEHRAN -- Commerce Minister, Mohammad Shariatmadari here Sunday said that state facilities are too limited to meet the employment demand and the task should be undertaken by the private sector.

He told IRNA that the Commerce Ministry has been reassessing the position of guildsmen in recent months and the first producers conference has been organized to this end.

Referring to the number of employment created in the production sector and the potentials of the guild, the minister added that 50 percent of employment in the industrial sector are created by workshops supervised by production guilds with less than five employees.

Pointing to the bill to amend laws pertaining to the guild system, Shariatmadari said, the "Bill is the outcome of over 26 meetings held last year by a number of guilds and state representatives, mainly aimed at defining the limits and framework of the guild." He said that the bill has been drawn up in 80 articles to lay down the procedure for individuals and guilds activity as well as the interrelation of various guilds with one another and the state organizations.

The first conference on the producers guild's role and its status in the national economy, he said, was aimed at achieving convergence and making use of the views of the heads of various producing guilds, he said.

The official added that at the two-day conference, the heads of various guilds brought up their problems with political and economic officials.

He underlined that once the role and position of the producing guilds is improved, Iran's share in regional and global economy as well as the nation's consumption standards will change.