TEHRAN – During his official visit to Kyrgyzstan, Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi visited the National Library of Kyrgyzstan and met with the library’s director, Eldar Attokurov, proposing that precise cataloging of the manuscript collections in both countries be conducted.

In the meeting, which focused on cultural and academic exchanges, Sahehi emphasized the importance of identifying and utilizing the valuable treasures of Persian manuscripts housed in Kyrgyz libraries, IRNA reported.

“The first step is for us to at least see each other’s catalogs to determine in which areas we can gain new information regarding the available manuscripts,” he noted.

Salehi, while pointing to the necessity of utilizing modern technologies in library management, stated, “Currently, with the environment provided by new technologies and the capabilities of artificial intelligence, the process of searching and accessing data can be significantly expedited.”

The Iranian Minister asserted that by using advanced tools, information regarding manuscripts could be extracted with higher speed and precision and made available to researchers worldwide.

Eldar Attokurov welcomed the Iranian Minister’s proposals and emphasized the importance of preserving written heritage and strengthening joint cooperation between the two countries.

Following the discussions, various strategies for further interaction between the two institutions were proposed. 

The National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic is the legal deposit and copyright agency for Kyrgyzstan. Founded in 1934, it has a collection of 6 million documents in 89 languages from around the world. Some of the primary functions of the National Library in Kyrgyzstan are preserving the cultural wealth and traditions of the peoples of our country and collecting and accumulating human knowledge.

SS/SAB