SHIRAZ, Fars Prov. -- The International Europe-Asia Congress of Information and Technology formally opened here Tuesday with 550 national and international scientific figures attending.

The 3-day congress, organized by the Presidential Technology Office, the Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephones (PTT), Fars governor's office and the Austria Computer Science Association will last until October 31.

Over 100 domestic and foreign participants to the conference began arriving in Shiraz late Monday.

Speaking to IRNA, the Chairman of the Conference's Secretariat, Dr. Ali Akbar Safavi, said 250 IT and ICT specialists from 36 Asian and European countries such as Canada, Britain, Austria, France, Italy, The Netherlands and South Korea are among the parti cipants.

Some 119 scientific lectures would be covered by the conference to be delivered by IT and ICT specialists. Up to 10 training workshops will also be held alongside the electronic and PC exhibitions as well as discussions by and among 250 specialists in the ir proven fields.

Participants will also be given the opportunity to visit any one of Fars Province's cultural-historical sites on the sidelines of the congress, Safavi said.

This year's International European-Asia Conference on Information Technology and Communications 2002 is the first to be held so far.

President Mohammad Khatami's message will start the event at Hafez Cultural Complex in Shiraz.

thr 022 iran-shiraz-congress /gnr/ congress of information technology kicks off in shiraz shiraz, fars prov, oct 29, irna -- the international europe-asia congress of information and technology formally opened here tuesday with 550 national and international scientific figures attending.