Islamic Republic of Iran and China stressed the need to develop and enhance cooperation in the field of sports and tourism in particular. In a meeting held between the Iranian Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ali-Asghar Shalbafan and the Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua in Tehran on Tuesday, the two sides expressed their readiness to boost bilateral cooperation in the tourism field.

The Iranian official pointed to the cultural and historical commonalities between the two countries and stated that Iran and China enjoy high capabilities and potentials to develop their cooperation in the field of tourism.

Executive planning has been compiled by the Iranian tourism ministry with the aim of expanding tourism relations between the two countries, Shalbafan underscored.

Chinese envoy to Iran, for his part, pointed to the salient tourism attractions of Iran and said that capacities such as favorable skiing environment and rail lines are among the attractions that have been put at the focal attention of Chinese people. /MNA/

The spokesman for Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said that 15,799,000 tons of goods and commodities, valued at $9.858 billion, were exchanged between Iran and other countries in the Iranian month of Bahman.

Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi said on Wednesday that 15,799,000 tons of goods were exchanged between Iran and other countries in the Iranian month of Bahman (from Jan. 21 to Feb. 22, 2022), showing a 45 and 52 percent hike in terms of weight and value respectively as compared to the same period of last year.

These statistics showed that Iran’s foreign trade has registered a 41 and 21 percent hike in terms of weight and value respectively as compared to a month earlier, he added.

He went on to say that 12,233,000 tons of Iranian goods, valued at $4.754 billion, were exported from Iran to other countries in the same period, showing a 45 and 64 percent growth in terms of weight and value respectively as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Latifi pointed to the volume of products imported into the country in this period and added that 3,566,000 tons of goods, valued at $5.104 billion, were imported into the country, registering a 46 and 42 percent hike in terms of weight and value respectively.

More than 1,070,000 tons of foreign goods were transited via Iranian land and territory, recording a 36 percent hike as compared to the same period of last year, IRICA spokesman added.  /MNA/

The final phase of the largest vaccine factory in Western Asia has been put into operation in the Iranian province of Alborz. In the presence of the Iranian health minister Bahram Einollahi, the final phase of the largest vaccine factory in West of Asia, as well as the production of 60 million doses of COVIran Barekat vaccine, was put into operation in Barakat Pharmaceutical Industrial Town located in Alborz province.

Barakat is the first ant-Covid vaccine manufactured in Iran. COVIran Barekat is developed in Iran by Shifa Pharmed Industrial Group. /MNA/

Scholarships will be awarded to 100 talented students of the Islamic world studying in Iranian universities at the master’s and doctoral levels in basic sciences, Sa’dollah Nasiri, the chancellor of Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, said.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the International Year of Basic Sciences on Wednesday.

Proclaimed for 2022 by the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly 2 in December 2021, the day aims to stress that the applications of basic sciences are vital for advances in medicine, industry, agriculture, water resources, energy planning, environment, communications, and culture.

On this occasion, it was decided to grant 100 post-doctoral recruitment capacity or study opportunities in basic sciences to doctoral graduates or faculty of neighboring and Islamic countries to put research on the agenda under the supervision of the country’s leading professors, Nasiri added.

He went on to note that the birthday anniversary of Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (March 4) is proposed to be approved as the national day of basic sciences in the Iranian calendar.

Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the “founder of Indology”, “Father of Comparative Religion”, “Father of modern geodesy”, and the first anthropologist.

520,000 foreign students in Iran

The Iranian minister of foreign affairs has said that more than 520,000 foreign students in Iran study for free and that the vaccination of Afghan asylum seekers has been considered and taken on a par with that of Iranian citizens.

Some 57,675 college students from 133 countries are studying in Iranian universities, many of whom have returned to their country with the outbreak of the pandemic.

Some 30,600 of the whole students are studying in universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science, while 25,000 others are receiving education in Azad University, and about 2,000 in medical universities.

Fifty-seven percent of the international students are studying for a master’s degree, 27 percent for a bachelor’s degree, and 15 percent for a Ph.D. degree, while the remaining one percent study at other levels.

Law, Persian literature and computer engineering are the top three fields of study for foreign students in Iran, while civil engineering, business management, political science, English language and literature, Quran and hadith sciences, international relations, electrical engineering, and other majors with the highest number of non-Iranian students. /T.T/

Thanks to the capacity of knowledge-based companies, Iran is able to produce 600 million doses of vaccine against coronavirus annually, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, has said.

A total of 21 knowledge-based companies are operating to produce 50 million doses of vaccine monthly and 600 million doses annually, IRNA quoted Bahram Daraei as saying on Wednesday.

Iran is the sixth country in the world and the first country in West Asia to gain the ability to produce the Coronavirus vaccine.

Considering that five coronavirus vaccines have so far been produced domestically, Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said in June 2021 that Iran is one of the few countries that has all vaccine production platforms.

COVIRAN is the first vaccine in West Asia that is in the process of global registration.

On February 7, ISNA reported that two domestic companies have completed the animal phase of a clinical study to develop vaccines against the Omicron strain.

Domestically-made vaccines

Made by researchers at the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, COVIRAN BARKAT was unveiled on December 29, 2020, and received the license for public use on June 14.

Developed by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Razi Cov Pars is the second Iranian-made vaccine that started the clinical trial on February 27.

Moreover, the Iranian-Australian Spikogen vaccine and Pastu Covac, developed jointly by the Pasteur Institute of Iran and Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute, are other vaccines, which have received the emergency use license. /T.T/

The director-general of the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) has said that the country’s crude oil exports have exceeded 1.5 million barrels per day(bpd).

The PMO Director-General Ali Akbar Safaei, who is also the deputy minister of the Road and Urban Development, made the remarks on an inspection visit to projects being carried out in the southern Iranian Province of Bushehr.

“Fortunately, with the very good measures taken after the recent visits of the President to the regional countries and the resulting breakthroughs that were created, we have had good growth in exports and imports, and in Bushehr port, we see 22% growth compared to last year, which promises a boom in maritime activities,” Safaei said.

The PMO Director-General also noted that in the field of oil activities, crude oil exports have exceeded 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), adding that, Bushehr ports are supporting these activities to continue the export of petroleum products and crude oil in the best way.

Also in this regard, the Iranian oil minister Javad Owji said that the country will not wait for the results of the Vienna talks on the removal of the sanctions, adding that over $4.5 billion worth of contracts have been concluded with both domestic and international companies to invest in the development of gas and oil fields.

In the future, a contract will be concluded with a consortium of banks to develop one of the massive gas and oil fields, the minister said. /MNA/

The BUFF International Film Festival will be screening the Iranian movies “Wolf Cubs of Apple Valley”, “Asteroid” and “Solar Eclipse”. The children and youth film festival will take place in Malmö, Sweden, from March 19 to 25.

“Wolf Cubs of Apple Valley” directed by Fereidun Najafi and “Asteroid” by Mehdi Hosseinivand-Aalipur will be competing in the feature films category.

In “Wolf Cubs of Apple Valley”, a shot rings out in the valley, and Asho’s friend drops to the ground. The rifle bullet was meant for Asho; his father is wanted for murder and he, too, is being hunted. To evade those who are looking for him, Asho is forced to dress up as a girl and hide at his aunt’s house. In his hunt for answers, he heads out to Apple valley with his cousin, Pari, to look for his mother, who he has always believed to be dead.

“Asteroid” tells the story of Ebrahim, a twelve-year-old boy who lives with his mother and five siblings in the middle of the desert. His father and elder brother have disappeared, and the responsibility of looking after his family lies on Ebrahim’s shoulders. “Asteroid” is a dazzlingly beautiful depiction of togetherness, family ties and responsibility, set in Iran’s incredible landscape. “Asteroid” has echoes of lauded films such as “Lilla Mamma” and “Capernaum”.

Directed by Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Qasemi, “Solar Eclipse” has been chosen to be screened in the short movies competition.

The film follows Saghi and her friends, who have gone to the largest park in Tehran to take pictures of the solar eclipse. The rebellious teenagers enjoy their freedom to the maximum, but all good things come to an end.

“Challenges” is the theme of this year’s festival, which features 118 films from 51 different countries.

“Youngsters face many challenges in today’s society,” the organizers said.

They added, “This is portrayed in this year’s films from a variety of different perspectives: transgender identity, the climate crisis, sexuality, and mental health, to name but a few. These are challenges that are met both with a struggle and with hope, even when it isn’t easy.” / T.T /

Iranian films “The Descendants” and “Zaferanieh, near Sunset” have won awards at the Pambujan International Film Festival in the Philippines.

“The Descendants” directed by Yaser Talebi won one two best film awards of the festival in the competition for the full-length narrative films last Friday.

In this drama, Jacob’s family worries about Farrokh, the son of the family. Farrokh left Iran to continue his studies but he has not been in touch with them for a long time. Jacob travels to Sweden to look for his son.

“Zaferanieh, near Sunset”, a drama on drug addiction in Tehran directed by Mohammad Kharratzadeh, received one of the two runner-up awards in this category.

The Russian war drama “The Final Stand” directed by Vadim Shmelyov was the other winner of the best film award.

The film is about the incredible self-sacrifice of the Podolsk cadets in defense of their country in October 1941 near Moscow. The cadets of the Podolsk artillery-infantry schools are ordered to take up defenses on the Ilyinsky line.

The other runner-up award in the narrative films category went to “Tutuge” directed by Virlanwana Langgong from Indonesia.

“Once Upon a Time on All Hollows’ Eve” by Jaroslaw Gogolin from the UK, “The Herald and the Horror” by Jayvee Margaja from the Philippines and “Boxer Blood and Sweat” by Nima Nadaf from Germany were also honored with third best film prizes.

The awards for best documentary films were given to “The Wounded Souls of the Rann” by Dinesh Lakhanpal from India and “Puso Ng Pinoy Bboy” by Clifton Abuan from the United States.

What do we know about the people who make salt – the most humble and yet the most important ingredient of our food? Seventy percent of the salt produced in India is made in Gujarat and more than forty percent of that in the Rann of Kutch by the Agariyas. For centuries they have been working in horrifying, subhuman conditions, caught in a debt trap. “The Wounded Souls of the Rann” provides a glimpse into their lives.

Built Lands directed by Arturo Dueñas Herrero from Spain and “Wherever We May Be” by Adrian Ellis Alarilla, Jed Yabut, Joseph Unsay, Kenneth Cardenas, Pat R., Pauline M. and Zoé Ciela Guenne from the United States won the runner-up awards in the documentary films category.

Several other movies by Iranian filmmakers were also honored with awards in the short competition of the festival. /T.T/

Iranian woman sprinter Farzaneh Fasihi claimed a silver medal at the 2022 Belgrade Open Meeting. She finished in second place the 60 meters event with a time of 7.31 seconds.

Italian sprinter Zaynab Dosso won the gold medal, clocking 7.21 and Slovakian Monikka Weigertova seized the bronze with a time of 7.38.

Fasihi became the Iran’s ninth woman to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

She represented Iran in the women’s 100 meters at 2020 Tokyo. /T.T/

Kordestan University in western Iran, will be hosting an international conference on tourism and development, the provincial tourism chief has said.

The event will explore topics on different branches of tourism, management, marketing, economics, education, culture, and tourism infrastructure, CHTN quoted Yaqub Guylian as saying on Sunday.

A major aim of the conference is to examine the barriers and problems of tourism development and to propose novel solutions to attract domestic and foreign investment.

Moreover, attendees will discuss the role of proper tourism infrastructure to achieve sustainable development, the official added.

The event is scheduled to be attended by Iranian deputy tourism minister Ali-Asghar Shalbafian and participants from Iraq, the UK, and Finland, he noted.

It will be held on March 9 and 10 in collaboration with Kordestan’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, he mentioned. /T.T/