TEHRAN – Tehran’s Niavaran Museum has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Moscow’s Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts to intensify their cooperation. 

The MOU was inked by the director of Niavaran Museum Amir-Reza Sharifnia and the director of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Marina Loshak in Moscow on Tuesday, CHTN reported. 

Under the agreement, the two museums will stage joint exhibitions and exchange artifacts that will be displayed in both countries. 

The museums will also extend their collaboration in the areas of education and research, the report added.  

The MOU was signed on the sidelines of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan’s visit to Russia. 

Mounesan on Monday signed an action plan to implement a bilateral visa-free agreement for tourist groups. 

The signing of the agreement, which emphasizes a waiver of visas for tourist groups, was due to the good relations between the two countries as well as the interest of Iranians in visiting Russia and the existing capacity in the country for cultural tourists and history buffs, he noted during the signing ceremony. 

He also expressed hope that the signing of the joint action plan, as well as the process of increasing vaccination and overcoming the corona crisis, would result in a growth of tourism between Iran and Russia.
 
In 2017, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin inked a visa-free agreement for tourist groups.

A joint technical committee has been developing an action plan for the previously agreed visa-free travel arrangements since then, to put the agreement into effect.

Based on the 2017 agreement tour groups of 5 to 50 people heading to [easternmost parts of] Russia from Iran or vice versa are granted a visa-free stay of up to 15 days.

ABU/AFM