Minister: Iran Ready To Expand Cultural Co-op With Afghanistan

Kabul, April 15, IRNA – Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini in a press conference here on Saturday afternoon expressed Iran's readiness to cooperate in all fields, including cultural grounds, with Afghanistan. Hosseini, who is in Afghanistan to attend a ceremony to introduce Gaznay as the capital city of Islamic world, expressed pleasure with this selection and said that the city is home to poets, writers, deep thinkers and elites, who have done many things for humanity. In the press conference, in which Iranˈs ambassador to Kabul Abolfazl Zohrevand was present too, the minister called for Gaznay in Afghanistan and Nayshabur in Iran to be named as sister cities, because both have grown up scientists in the past history. Hosseini said that Iranians do not feel separated from the Afghans, because of common religion, language, culture, history, literature and tradition. He continued that annually 69,000 title books are published in Iran, which can be used by Afghans, too. The minister underlined necessity of creating facilities for books to be exported from Iran to Afghanistan and added that books in the fields of poetry, novels, literature, history, religion, and children stories are published in Iran which can be used by Afghans too. Hosseini also said Iran stands ready to produce joint movies with Afghanistan, adding that we can make movies about characters, historical events and world issues. The minister continued that cultural cooperation council has been founded between Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan and other institutes, communities, groups and organizations in different places like Pakistan or India can join the council. Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) selected Gaznay city in Afghanistan as cultural capital of the Islamic world. It had been proposed in 2007 by ISESCO that Gaznay become cultural capital of the Islamic world in the year 2013./end