TEHRAN – Iranian cities of Sari and Ardebil have been selected as the cultural capitals for the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Iran’s proposal for introducing ECO cultural capitals was submitted to the third meeting of ECO tourism ministers attended by tourism minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan and his counterparts in the ECO region, CHTN reported.

The Islamic Republic was also selected to host the meeting of ECO tourism ministers in 2021, the report added.

Iran, Tajikistan seek to deepen tourism ties

Upon arrival in Dushanbe, Mounesan was welcomed by Tajik Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Muhridin. The two officials explored avenues for promoting cooperation in the field of tourism.

They discussed a range of issues, with a focus on enhancing mutual collaboration in the fields of tourism and cultural heritage in a meeting attended by Tehran’s ambassador to Dushanbe Mohammad Taqi Saberi, IRNA reported.

Highlighting cultural and lingual commonalities between the Iranian and Tajik nations, Muhridin called for using the capacities for increasing exchange of tourists and take advantage of Iran’s experience in holding tourism exhibitions and conferences for introducing the two countries’ capacities in this field.

Mounesan, for his part, hailed lingual, religious, cultural and historical commonalities of Iran and Tajikistan, saying that President Rouhani’s latest visit to Dushanbe was a major step in line with promoting bilateral relations.

The third meeting of ECO tourism ministers was held on October 3 and 4.

ECO is an inter-governmental regional organization encompassing countries from Europe, Caucuses and Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia with more than 460 million inhabitants and over 8 million square kilometers connecting Russia to the Persian Gulf and China to Europe.

According to the organization, its overall objective is to materialize the sustainable economic development of its member states and the region as a whole.

AFM/MG