TEHRAN – Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri and Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni met in Athens on Thursday to discuss plans for expanding cooperation in tourism, museums and cultural heritage.

Salehi-Amiri, who arrived in Athens early Thursday to attend the 9th ministerial meeting of the Ancient Civilizations Forum at the Acropolis Museum, called for drafting a joint action plan focused on facilitating tourist travel, strengthening museum and restoration cooperation, exchanging experts and holding joint exhibitions.

He said Iran and Greece possessed extensive tangible and intangible heritage that could form the basis for long-term cultural and tourism partnerships. “Today the twenty-seventh element of Iran’s intangible heritage, ‘Ayeneh-Kari, the art of mirror-work in Persian architecture’, was inscribed on UNESCO’s list,” he said, adding that Iran also had 29 registered tangible and natural sites and many more eligible for inscription.

Salehi-Amiri said Iran was ready to expand cooperation with Greece across health, marine, nature, cultural and spiritual tourism, and noted that Iran had 299 branches of handicrafts and a large collection of historical objects.

Moreover, the Iranian minister invited Kefalogianni to attend the Tehran International Tourism and Handicrafts Exhibition in February and a summit dedicated to the countries, which celebrate Nowruz (Persian New Year) in Tehran.

Kefalogianni, for her part, welcomed Iran’s proposals and said Greece was committed to expanding cooperation. She described Iran and Greece as custodians of significant global heritage and said UNESCO’s lists had been enriched by both countries’ sites.

The Greek minister noted that Iran had recently been elected to the Executive Council of the UN Tourism (formerly named the World Tourism Organization or UNWTO), while Greece had been selected as the European representative in the same body. She called for updating a 1997 bilateral memorandum and drafting a new joint program “based on real implementation”.

Kefalogianni identified the lack of direct flights between the two countries as the main barrier to tourism growth. She said Greece received 40 million tourists in 2024 and was seeking to diversify and enter new markets. “Iran has significant potential, and with proper promotion, Greek and European tourists will be attracted,” she said.

Elsewhere in her remarks, the Greek minister said she would participate in the Tehran international exhibition and support the signing of a bilateral memorandum during the visit. She also called for promoting diverse tourism fields, including gastronomy, health, marine and sports tourism, saying tourism was a bridge between nations and should be strengthened between the two nations.

AM