Iran has presented six proposals to expand tourism cooperation among member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) during a coordination committee meeting held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Miras-e Aria reported on Monday.

The proposals were put forward at the 10th meeting of the OIC Tourism Coordination Committee, where delegates also reviewed the selection process for Islamic tourism capital cities for 2028–2030.

Iranian representatives called for a revision of the current mechanism for selecting the “OIC Tourism Capital” to ensure broader regional participation and more balanced distribution of benefits among member states.

Iran’s delegation included Moslem Shojaei, director-general for foreign tourism marketing and development at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Iran, and Seyyed Javad Mousavi, director-general of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts for Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province, according to the report.

The meeting was attended by senior tourism officials from OIC member states and focused on strengthening multilateral cooperation and increasing tourism exchanges among Islamic countries.

Key discussion areas included cultural and historical tourism, Halal tourism, medical tourism, visa facilitation and the use of shared tourism capacities across member states.

One of the main agenda items was the evaluation of candidate cities for the title of “OIC Tourism Capital” for 2028, 2029 and 2030. Iran is one of 10 members of the evaluation committee and participates in the selection process.

Under the OIC’s regional rotation system, the 2028 title is allocated to African countries, 2029 to Arab countries and 2030 to Asian countries. Final decisions are expected at the 13th OIC Tourism Ministers’ Conference scheduled for December 2026 in Doha, Qatar.

The OIC said the designation of a tourism capital can contribute to increased investment, infrastructure development and promotion of cultural and historical assets across its 57 member states.

Shojaei said Iran is ready to take part in joint initiatives and presented six strategic proposals, including the development of Islamic heritage tourism routes, the creation of an OIC Halal tourism network, annual tourism exhibitions, visa facilitation, expansion of medical tourism cooperation and a review of the tourism capital selection mechanism.

He also proposed that, given the OIC’s three regional divisions, one city from each region could be selected annually as tourism capital, instead of the current single-city system.

He said the proposal could improve regional balance and allow more countries to benefit from tourism-related economic and cultural opportunities.

AM