Iran and China to boost cultural relations

TEHRAN,Nov.3(MNA) – Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati and China’s Vice Minister of Culture Ding Wei discussed cultural collaboration during a meeting here on Saturday. They both met at the Culture Ministry’s central building and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) focusing on cultural relations, the Culture Ministry reported in a press release on Saturday. Both parties agreed to establish a China cultural center in Tehran and a Tehran cultural center in China, which will help boost cultural cooperation. Chinese literary figures will be introduced in this center, while Chinese films will also be screened in this center in Tehran, Jannati said. He added that Iran and China have long had good cultural relations and have signed a series of agreements over the past years. Jannati also said that Iran and China enjoy cultural commonalities and there are plans to reinforce these commonalties. Moreover, Ding Wei announced readiness to support Persian translation of books by novelist Mo Yan, the Chinese literature Nobel laureate in 2012. Of course, there are many other good literary works, which can be translated into Persian when bilateral cultural relations develop, he added.