Iran and Pakistan have entered negotiations to enhance religious tourism.On Sunday, Pakistan media reported that its Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Mufti Abdul Shakoor urged the Iranian government to finalize a draft agreement named ‘Ziarat Policy’ to promote religious tourism.

“There were many people who pay homage to the mausoleums of sacred religious figures located in Iran every year. In this regard, the government of Pakistan had forwarded a draft named ‘Ziarat Policy’ in a bid to enhance religious tourism between the two brotherly countries but it was still pending,” the Express Tribune reported on Saturday.

Talking to a delegation led by Iran’s deputy director of Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) Hossein Rouzbeh, Abdul Shakoor said proposed establishing offices in Iran including Pakistan House and facilitating religious pilgrims during their stay in Quetta and Taftan under the policy.

Rouzbeh said the cornerstone of the Iranian foreign policy was to maintain cordial relations with neighboring countries.

He invited the minister to attend the forthcoming conference being held in Iran to discuss the promotion of religious harmony and other common issues prevailing between the two countries.

Moreover, Abdul Shakoor noted that the two nations’ relations are based on common values and brotherhood. Both the countries have been desirous to resolve bilateral issues by devising a joint strategy, he said.

The dignitaries of both sides agreed on promoting bilateral relations, interfaith harmony, and cooperation in Hajj arrangements, the report said.

Based on available data, some 700,000 Pakistani pilgrims annually traveled to Mashhad to visit the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) before the coronavirus outbreak. Mashhad is the prime destination for Pakistani travelers who come to go on pilgrimage to the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam.

According to official data, the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) hosts an average number of 500,000 pilgrims each day.

Furthermore, the spiritual tradition of pilgrimage to the shrine along with sustained efforts to safeguard hospitality services for Razavi pilgrims may soon join UNESCO’s listing of cultural treasures as Iran has asked the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO to recognize the concept of ‘Good safeguarding practices to improve hospitality services for Razavi Pilgrims’. /T.T/

Persian handicrafts, made by natives of the southern Fars province, will become available to football fans during the upcoming FIFA World Cup in neighboring Qatar, CHTN reported on Tuesday.

Qatar World Cup is a great opportunity for introducing and marketing the handicrafts of Fars province, said the provincial tourism chief Seyyed Moayyed Mohsen-Nejad.

For the province’s handicrafts to have a strong presence at the World Cup, it needs to plan and take action in the remaining time until the event, the official added.

Craft marketing encourages good production and helps move the economic cycle forward, he explained.

Bringing handicrafts back into people’s lives will pave the way for their revival, he noted.

Earlier this month, the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ezzatollah Zarghami and Qatar’s Minister of Culture and Sports Abdulrahman bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani met in Tehran, exchanging views on how to facilitate tourism during World Cup.

The two countries discussed ways to further deepen tourism, cultural heritage, and handicraft ties by taking advantage of the World Cup opportunity in Qatar.

Zarghami suggested setting up a committee to plan and coordinate ideas and to make the most of the World Cup’s capacity.

Zarghami also said that there are nearly 300 Iranian handicrafts fields and many of the items are culturally quite close to Qatar, and classes can be held to bring the Iranian artists’ experience to Qatari artists.

Back in April, Iranian media reported that the government mulled over a visa simplification procedure at the suggestion of its Foreign Ministry to draw spectators from the neighboring Qatar which plays host to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in November and December.

The Iranian government plans to grant a free visa to citizens whose national football teams qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for a one-time or a two-time period with a validity period of two months and a 30-day stay.

The minister said many people are interested to visit Iran for its historical attractions and ecotourism to name a few. / T.T/

 

Iranian documentary ‘Water, Wind, Dust, Bread’ directed by Mehdi Zamanpour Kiasari will be screened at the DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival in New Zealand.

The 25-minute documentary ‘Water, Wind, Dust, Bread’, which took more than a year to produce, is a delicate narrative of the life of two children named ‘Abolfazl’ and ‘Setayesh’ who experience a different life.

The documentary has been previously screened at the 18th edition of ZagrebDox, the International Documentary Film Festival and the 24th edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece, a special screening section of the 15th Miradasdoc International Film Festival in Spain and the 19th edition of the Millennium Film Festival in Poland.

The Doc Edge, formerly DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival or simply DOCNZ Film Festival, and then Documentary Edge Festival, is New Zealand’s Academy Award-qualifying international documentary film festival, run annually by the Documentary New Zealand Trust since 2005.

The new edition of the festival will be held from June 1 to July 10, 2022. /MNA/

The 2nd day of 2022 World Muaythai Championship ended in Abu Dhabi with four more victories for the Iranian athletes increasing the number of the Iranian National Muaythai Team’s medals to 9.

On Sunday, the second day of the competitions the matches were continued in adults and under 23-year old (U23) levels and the Iranian athletes gained four more medals.

In under 60kg and a quarter final match, Iran’s Fatemeh Hosseini beat her Syrian competitor in a close game 29-28.

In minus 81kg Iran’s Ramin Alizadeh beat the Polish champion Rafael Radoz to go to the next level.

In quarter final of the minus 45kg of adult women, Iran’s Reyhaneh Saidi beat her Saudi competitor 20-17.

And in plus 91kg, Iran’s Behnam Dafari beat Yahya Al-Shaia 10-8 to reach the second round.

The 2022 World Muaythai Championship began in Abu Dhabi on Friday, May 27 and will end on June 5. More than 800 athletes from 100 countries are competing in the competitions. /IRNA/

Iran’s men team in the 2022 ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, won the gold medal of men air pistol category on Tuesday.

Javad Foroughi, Mohammad-Rasoul Effati and Sajjad Pour-Hosseini competed against the Italian team and defeated them 16-10, wining the gold medal in the category.

Iran’s women team, consisting of Hanieh Rostamian, Golnoush Sebghatollahi and Zeynab Toumari, failed to make their way through the final stage and stood at the seventh place among eight teams. / IRNA/

The director general of department of environment in Ardabil province said that 2 Iranian leopards were seen and photographed in a sanctuary in the northern Iranian province.

Hassan Ghasempour, director-general of the department of environment in Ardabil Province said those two leopards were spotted and photographed by environmentalists in the Darband Mashkul sanctuary located in the Kowsar County.

Nearly four years ago in 2018, a Persian leopard along with two cubs was spotted in the same area, according to Ghasempour, adding that the Darband Mashkul region is a good environment for the Persian leopards while the local people are really friendly to them. /MNA/

Iranian cartoonist Mohammad Hossein Akbari won the first title at the 1st International Cartoon Competition with the theme of “Ecological Lines” in Turkey.

Akbari won the first prize at the 1st International Cartoon Competition on the theme of “Ecological Lines” held by Büyükçekmece Municipality.

The competition’s award ceremony and exhibition will take place on June 5, 2022, at 14.00 in the Dumlupnar Hall of the Büyükçekmece Municipality Building.

Mohammad Hossein Akbari has been working as a cartoonist and caricaturist for about 16 years and has received more than 80 national and international awards, including the prize of the International School Cartoon Festival- Portugal, the first prize of VIII Graphic Humor Contest 2020 Elda Alicante -Spain, the first prize of International Cartoon Festival- Indonesia 2020, the first prize of the International Gas Cartoon Festival-Iran 2010, the third prize of International Biennial Cartoon of Tehran (theme: Fear 2009), the third prize of International Tunzmag Cartoon- Norway, and Silver Medal of the World Cartoon Festival of Azerbaijan 2021. /MNA/