Tehran, Vienna emphasize expansion of cultural relations

Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mahdi Esmaeili held a meeting with the Austrian Ambassador Wolfgang Dietrich Heim at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance on Tuesday to discuss cultural relations between the two nations.

Esmaeili referred to the 1976 and 2019 memorandums of understandings signed between Iran and Austria, noting that these two countries can continue expanding their cultural relations based on those two documents.

Later, Esmaeili noted that a cultural activity should be a mutual interaction. He also said that the cultural section of the Austrian Embassy in Tehran has different activities which the Iranian side welcomes, calling on the Austrian side to lay the same ground for the Iranian side's activities in Vienna.

The Iranian minister further said that the new administration in Iran under President Ebrahim Raeisi attaches great importance to dialogue among different religions and cultures, expressing hope for expansion of cultural and artistic ties between Iran and the European country in the new era.

The Austrian ambassador, for his part, stressed the need for expanding language education between the two countries.

Heim also showed interest in introducing Iranian history and culture to Austria, pointing to the Iranian rich historical and cultural background.

The fields of religions and languages were two other topics discussed more by the two sides later in the meeting.

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