Iran's cultural exhibit starts work in China

Iran's exclusive cultural and arts exhibition kicked off in the city of Shanghai, in Eastern China. Iran's Cultural Attache in China Mehrdad Rakhshandeh said that the one-week exhibition is aimed at introducing parts of the rich Iranian culture and civilization to the Chinese people, the Islamic republic news agency reported. The Iranian official added that the visitors will become familiar with significant achievements of the Iranian nation, particularly in the field of culture and arts. He pointed out that setting up such exhibitions would help further boost bilateral relations between the two friendly nations. Early in November, Iranian and Chinese officials in a meeting in Tehran agreed to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of their cultural centers in a reciprocal move. The agreement was struck in a meeting between Iranian Culture Minister Ali Jannati and China’s Deputy Culture Minister Dung Wi. “Based on the MoU, Iran will have a cultural center in Beijing and China will have a cultural center in Tehran," Jannati said after the meeting with Dung Wi, underlining that "establishment of the two centers will lead to the expansion of cultural interactions between the two countries.” “We always assume China as Iran’s friend since we have enjoyed age-old cultural ties and the eleventh government (in Iran) is insistent on consolidating the cultural relations (with the other world countries),” he added. In relevant remarks in June, Chinese Culture Minister Cai Wu called for the further enhancement of bilateral ties between Tehran and Beijing, specially in cultural fields. "The Chinese government attaches importance to its relations with Iran and Beijing expects the second joint cultural cooperation between the two countries to be held in near future," Cai said at the time.