Formulating Regional Development Strategies for Iran's Ocean Coasts

Abstract

Regional development is a concept that focuses on motivating and diversifying various economic activities and investing in various sectors in order to reduce differences and economic and social differences between different regions. It also supports the improvement of living standards, the intensification of economic activities, the increase of investment in different sectors, and finally the promotion of dynamic and attractive economy. The economic development of different regions is based on the capabilities of each. Despite the fact that Iran's oceanic coasts have numerous capabilities for regional development (the possibility of benefiting from sea transportation, transit, marine industries, tourism, etc.), there has not been much achieved in that regards. Thus, this research aims to analyze the situation of Iran's oceanic coasts, as to formulate and present suggested strategies for the regional development of these coasts. To this end, based on SWOT framework, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Iran's ocean coasts were discussed and after the evaluation process, some strategies or competitive-aggressive strategies were introduced. Consequently, the system should take steps towards the implementation and application of the mentioned strategies, and by making use of the internal strengths, it should benefit the most from the external opportunities. Correspondingly, adaptive strategies were identified as second priority strategies. According to these guidelines, efforts should be made to eliminate, or at least reduce, the internal weaknesses, so that it would be conceivable to take advantage of special and appropriate opportunities in this region.

Keywords

• development
• regional development
• iran’s coastline