Archive for category: News

Tehran to host European Iranologists

Tehran will be hosting the Conference of Iranian Studies organized by the Societas Iranologica Europaea of Italy.

The agreement was reached between Carlo Cherti, Italian Cultural Attaché in Iran, and Ghahraman Soleimani, deputy head of the Organization for Cultural and Islamic Relations of Iran during a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.

The meeting was held following Soleimani’s last week’s trip to Italy where he held talks with a number of cultural and scientific figures, particularly Italian Iranologists, and reached agreements on various cultural cooperation, the most significant of which was the decision to select Tehran as the hosting destination for the SIE conference.

During the meeting on Tuesday, Soleimani called for further cooperation between the two countries in the areas of culture, archeology, and Iranology.

Carlo Cherti, for his part, hailed the good cultural relations with Iran, saying “Italy will be the guest of honor for Tehran International Book Fair 2017, and this will provide both sides with a golden opportunity to further expand cultural cooperation.”

He went on to add that Italy is also keenly interested in cooperating with the Iranian side in art, music, cultural heritage, literature and science and technology.

The two sides also reached agreements on other issues including holding the commemoration ceremony of famous Italian Iranologists, expanding academic cooperation between scientific and research centers, showcasing Persian manuscripts of Italy in Iranian museums, holding training workshops on literary text translations, and developing Italian language and literature courses in higher educational levels in Iran’s universities.

The Societas Iranologica Europaea (S.I.E.), founded in 1983 in Rome, is an international learned society in the field of Iranian Studies with members from European and non-European countries. The aim of the S.I.E. is to promote Ancient, Middle and Modern Iranian Studies in all subject areas of the field, including philology, linguistics, literature, history, religions, art, archaeology, philosophy, ethnology, geography, human sciences, and jurisprudence.

Japan to fund Iran’s purchase of MRJs

Iran says Japan has agreed to fund a plan to purchase passenger planes from its industrial giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Iran’s Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan has been quoted by the media that the agreement has been reached during a recent visit to Tokyo by an Iranian delegation.

Fakhrieh-Kashan added that based on the agreement, the government of Japan would fund the purchase of Mitsubishi planes based on a scheme known as build-operate-transfer (BOT).

The official further added Japan has agreed to provide the fund to make the purchase without any guarantees from the Iranian government.

Fakhrieh-Kashan also said that Japan has signed an agreement with Iran’s Ministry of Economy and Financial Affairs to provide Iran with a loan of $10 billion. He said the mechanisms on how exactly to use the loan will be decided during an upcoming visit to Tehran by a delegation from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Japan’s Nikki newspaper reported in mid-July that Mitsubishi Aircraft – the aviation arm of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – is negotiating with Iran to provide the country with its Regional Passenger Jets (MRJs) that are currently under development.  It said the company had started surveys over the Iranian market last September – several months before the US-engineered sanctions against Iran were lifted.

It said the company has been negotiating over jet sales with Iran’s flag carrier Iran Air and Iran Aseman Airlines, as well as the country’s aviation authorities.

Iran Air is weighing purchasing 80 70-seat MRJs and using them for domestic routes, Nikki added.  

To the same effect, Fakhrieh-Kashan was quoted by the media in late July that Aseman Airlines will purchase 25 MRJs.  He added that the value of the purchase will be around $500 million.

Iran, Azerbaijan Call for Broadening of Ties

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in a meeting in Baku underlined the need for the further expansion of mutual cooperation between the two countries.

During the meeting in the Azeri capital on Tuesday, Vaezi and President Aliyev explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating of bilateral relations in different areas.

Vaezi appreciated President Aliyev’s role in enhancement of the two countries’ bilateral ties, and said that the two countries’ presidents are determined to boost the level of their cooperation in different fields.

The Azeri president, for his part, hailed Vaezi’s role in expanding ties between the two countries.

The two sides also discussed political and economic ties between the two countries and cooperation in the Caspian Sea, and exchanged views about the prospects of relations in energy, transport, investment, finance, banking, agricultural, tourism and healthcare.

Vaezi, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived in Baku on Monday on a two-day visit aimed at paving the way for the upcoming visit of President Hassan Rouhani to the Azerbaijan on August 8.

During his stay, Vaezi has held talks with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister, Economy Minister and communications minister.

In relevant remarks in February, Iranian and Azeri presidents called for greater cooperation between the two neighbors in the war against terrorism and extremism.

“Iran and Azerbaijan are determined to strengthen cooperation in the ongoing war on terror in the region,” Rouhani said at a joint press conference with Aliyev in Tehran.

He said the two neighbors also believe that regional crises should be settled through dialog and not militarily.

Aliyev, for his part, highlighted the agreement reached between Tehran and Baku to work together in the war on terror, adding that the two neighbors share similar views on the region, specially on Syria.

“We also believe that the Syrian people should decide their own fate and their own political future,” he noted.

Iran is to build the longest gondola lift line in the world
2000 individuals can be moved per hour while staying in the gondola lift for 17 minutes.

The aerial lift line which is 36 km long is to be built in northwestern city of Orumieh, the Director General of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism organization of Western Azerbaijan province Asadollah Alizadeh told reporters.

“The initial phase of the gondola lift starts to be built Saturday August 28 in the presence of some officials of the province,” he said, adding the project involves resorts and tourism complexes as well.

The project would be accomplished in three routes, Alizadeh continued.

He added, the gondola lift’s speed reaches 6 meters per second and the project involves 86 gondola lifts each one is able to carry 6 people.

He said, 2000 individuals can be moved per hour while staying in the gondola lift for 17 minutes.

The project needs 5 billion dollars and 120 thousand euro jointly funded by Iranian private sector and two Italian and Turkish companies, he noted.

Iran and Armenia have lifted their mutual visa regime enabling their citizens to freely commute between the two countries.

Iran’s Ambassador to Yerevan Kazem Sajjadi says an agreement that it recently signed with Armenia to remove the visa regime between the two countries has come into effect as of 6 August 2016.

Iran’s Ambassador to Armenia Kazem Sajjadi was quoted by the media as saying that the removal of the visa regime between the two countries followed a relevant agreement that they had signed to the same effect recently. 

Sajjadi was quoted by the Armen Press news agency as saying that the removal had come into effect on 6 August 2016.

Armen Press also said the Iranian envoy had discussed the issue in a meeting with Armenia’s Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan. 

Sajjadi further emphasized that the removal of the visa regime with Armenia is expected to contribute to the development of tourism between the two countries.  

Armenia announced in early June that it has approved signing an agreement with Iran to abolish the visa regime between the two countries.

The country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan was quoted by media as saying that the agreement will help develop relations between Iran and Armenia.

The agreement was signed between the two countries on June 5 during a visit to Tehran by Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The agreement will allow Iranians and Armenians to travel to the two countries with citizens and diplomatic passports without a visa and stay there for maximum 90 days within a 180-day period, the media reported at the time.

Iran’s officials have already said the country seeks reciprocal visa waiver programs with 28 countries as part of its bid to boost tourism.

Citizens of Turkey, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bolivia, Egypt and Syria can travel to Iran and stay in the country without visa from 15 to 90 days.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani – currently on a visit to Baku – told reporters on Sunday that Iran and Azerbaijan are working on a scheme to remove the visa regime between the two countries.