Iranian and Austrian officials on Wednesday discussed ways to expand tourism ties through promoting sustainable ecotourism and holding a joint symposium in this regard.

“Iran and Austria can expand cooperation on exchanging tourists and professors, as the sector cannot be put under [U.S.-led] sanctions,” said Alexander Rieger, deputy head of mission of the Austrian Embassy in Tehran, addressing a news conference on International Sustainable Eco-tourism Symposium, Mehr reported.

The symposium is scheduled to be held in Tehran on September 25 and 26.

Talking on similarities that Iran and Austria have in tourism, Rieger said that the two nations can have a good cooperation in this sector without being worried about the U.S. sanctions.

He informed that a group of officials from Austria and five EU countries have visited some of Iran’s ecotourism sites to become familiar with the Iranian culture in various parts of the country, the report said.

Rieger presides over the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and he is also head of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tehran.

A poster for the Sustainable Eco-tourism Symposium

On July 31, 2018, and on the occasion of the Damavand Anniversary Project 2018, some 100 Austrian and Iranian mountaineers together with a group of European ambassadors jointly ascended the Mount Damavand. The two-day event marked the 175th anniversary of the first Austrian ascent of Mount Damavand by the botanist and scholar Theodor Kotschy in 1843, Mehr added.

The event sent a strong signal that Europe and Iran are making good on their promises to engage in an ever-increasing number of sectors and areas, Stefan Scholz, Vienna’s ambassador to Tehran said at the time.

“Iran is more than a country, it’s a civilization in its own right and one of the most ecologically diverse places in the world,” the Austrian ambassador had said.

“Austria stands ready to partner in further developing Iran’s great tourism potentials in a sustainable way, protecting natural resources and supporting the life and culture of mountain populations. This new sector partnership is part of Austria’s bilateral contribution to preserving and maintaining the JCPOA by bringing concrete and measurable economic benefits to the Iranian people,” he added.

Last November, the Trump administration reinstated sanctions on Iran, mainly the ones that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, in order to batter Iran’s economy, however, according to official data, they have so far failed to lessen foreign arrivals to the Islamic Republic.

“Nearly 7.8 million foreign nationals visited Iran over the [past Iranian calendar] year 1397 (March 2018-19) that shows a 52.5 percent increase year on year. The country hosted 5.1 million travelers in 1396 (March 2017-18),” deputy tourism chief Vali Teymouri said in April. / T.T/

Iran defeated South Korea 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-22) to book a place at the 2019 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship at the 12,000-seater Azadi Sports Complex here on Friday.

Team Melli will meet the winners of Japan and Australia match on Saturday.

In the fourth set, the players engaged in a fight at the court.

“I am deeply ashamed of what happened in the fourth set. This victory is like a defeat for me. We didn’t play well but had positive energy. But I am sad for what happened in this match,” Iran coach Igor Kolakovic said.

“It’s for the first time in my life I saw physical challenge during a match. It can be interesting in boxing but not in volleyball. Behaviors of some of players were disappointing,” he added.

The event is a biennial international volleyball tournament organized by the Asian volleyball governing body, the Asian Volleyball Federation (AVC). The tournament is being held from Sept. 13 to 21.

Top eight teams of this tournament will qualify for the 2020 Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament, which will be held in Jiangmen, China from 7 to 12 January 2020, where the winners will qualify to the 2020 men’s Olympic volleyball tournament. / T.T/

Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced that the country is now manufacturing nearly all its needs to medicine, noting that two thirds of raw materials are also produced inside Iran.
“97% of the country’s needs to medicine is produced domestically and the remaining 3% imported drugs will also be produced in Iran in future by 1,200 knowledge-based companies,” Namaki said in a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Nila Djuwita Farid Moeloek in Tehran on Saturday.

He also added that 67% of the raw materials needed for the country’s pharmaceutical industry are also produced in the country.

Elsewhere, Namaki underlined Iran’s enthusiasm for using Indonesia’s experience in management of natural disasters as well as treatment and pharmaceutical fields.

Iran has taken long strides in producing different types of drugs and medical equipment and exported them to many foreign states.

A recent report by the scientific and technological department of Iran’s presidential office said that the country is able to produce 97% of its needs to drugs indigenously.

in July, Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari unveiled 8 new drugs during his visit to knowledge-based companies in Alborz province near Tehran.

The newly-developed drugs included Micro-Peltamparazole, Tamsulosin hydrochloride, Naltrexone base, Citalyptin phosphate, Peo gliatzone and other medicine.

The drugs have applications in treatment of digestive diseases and intestinal insufficiency, and will also be exported to the regional states. / F.N/

The Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) granted the Muslim World Rania Award to Saeedeh Ghods, the founder of MAHAK, a charity society dedicated to treating pediatric cancer in Iran, the public relations department of MAHAK reported.

The Muslim World Rania Award is designed to recognize and celebrate the success of selected women in impacting people’s lives on personal, organizational, national and global platforms. The recipients exemplify excellence through outstanding behavior and business undertakings based on the highest standards of integrity and social responsibility.

Fulfilling the social responsibility in the fields of employment and entrepreneurship, good reputation, cooperation with other Muslim countries, poverty alleviation and economic development of the world’s Muslims are among the features that the jury of this international award consider for the selection of the top figures.

Honored by the business and investment magazine, OIC TODAY, the awards are presented during a special ceremony that takes place in conjunction with the annual international trade event, the Muslim World Biz.

The 9th Muslim World Biz was held with the presence of more than 40 Islamic countries by Trade Exhibition and Conference of the OIC on September 4-6, 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ghods has been recognized as one of the 12 leading women in this event for providing comprehensive support for children with cancer and their families during the past 28 years and Marzieh Afkham the ambassador of Iran to Malaysia received this award on her behalf. /T.T/

The 21st Iran International Maritime & Offshore Technologies Exhibition (IRANIMEX 2019) will be held on 26-29 Nov. 2019 in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

The 21st edition of IRANIMEX will be held in the Bandar Abbas International Exhibition’s Centre with the aim of introducing scientific and industrial achievements and identifying domestic producers and suppliers to meet the supply and production needs in Iran.

Covering an area as large as 20,000 square meters, IRANIMEX 2019 will host exhibitors from Iran, the Netherlands, Belgium, China, Korea, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Turkey, Norway, Italy and the UAE.

The participants will showcase their latest technologies and services related to the marine industry. That includes onshore and offshore facilities and services such as supplying marine equipment, dredging, as well as marine transportation, marine tourism, engineering and consultation, research and training, and construction of watercrafts.

IRANIMEX has been originally formed to expand, develop and create international opportunities for Iran’s maritime and offshore technologies. IRANIMEX acts as a meeting hall for all maritime activists and offshore technologies from private and public sectors.

The exhibition is organized and supported by a multitude of organizations including the Iran’s Vice-Presidency for science & technology, Ministry of industry, mine & trade, Ministry of roads and urban development, Islamic Azad University, Iran – Norway Joint Committee of Trade, KTP Group and HEERAB.

IRANIMEX 2019 could be a great opportunity for participants to get a better knowledge of Iran’s maritime and offshore industry. The event plays a vital role in establishing new business ties between Iranian and international companies.

IRANIMEX 2018 was held on Kish Island in the presence of 18 foreign companies and 230 Iranian firms. / MNA /

Iran and Turkey will collaborate on a joint film project, which will focus on the lives of the Persian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi and Shams-i Tabrizi, the wandering sage who later became the mentor of Rumi in the 13th century CE.

Hassan Fat’hi, director of the popular Iranian TV series “The Tenth Night”, “Zero Degree Orbit” and “Shahrzad”, will direct the movie titled “Drunk on Love”, a public relations team for the movie announced on Sunday.

Palme d’Or winning actor Shahab Hosseini from Iran is due to play the role of Shams. He was named best actor for his role in Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

A cast and crew of A-list Iranian and Turkish actors will join the project in the near future.

The entire film will shot in Konya, a Turkish town that is home to the mausoleum of Rumi.

Fat’hi and Farhad Tohidi are co-writing the screenplay, and Mehran Borumand from Iran and an unnamed person from Turkey will collaborate as producers on the project.

Rumi (1207-1273) undertook one or two journeys to Syria, during one of which he met the dervish, Shams.

However, he was deeply influenced by Shams during their second visit in Konya on November 30, 1244.

For months, the two men constantly interacted, and as a result, Rumi neglected his disciples and family, who could not tolerate the close relationship.

One night in 1247, Shams disappeared forever. This experience turned Rumi into a poet. The Divan of Shams is a true translation of his experiences into poetry./T.T/

Times Higher Education has published its annual ranking of the world’s top universities for 2020, listing 40 Iranian universities among them.

Iran has 11 more ranked universities compared to the last year’s listing to take its representation up to 40 institutions, according to The Times Higher Education website.

Babol Noshirvani University of Technology tops the list of Iranian universities with 5,744 full-time equivalent (FTE) students, 29.6 students per staff, and 32:68 female to male ratio, making it to the 351–400 bracket.

Yasouj University fell in the 401–500 bracket, while Amirkabir University of Technology, University of Kashan, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, and Tehran University of Medical Sciences all fell in the 501–600 bracket.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. It includes almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries, standing as the largest and most diverse university rankings ever to date.

For the fourth year in a row, the University of Oxford leads the rankings in first place, while the University of Cambridge falls to third. The California Institute of Technology rises three places to second, while Stanford, Yale, Harvard and Imperial College London all appear in the top ten.

Mainland China now provides both of Asia’s top two universities, with Tsinghua and Peking universities finishing at 23rd and 24th place respectively. The country’s universities have continued to expand their influence and presence on the world stage.

The U.S. is, once again, extremely well-represented among the global elite, while Canada’s top universities have risen up the table.

In Europe, Italy’s top institutions all make headway among the elite top 200 and German representation remains strong. However, the UK faces declines.

The performance indicators are grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); Research (volume, income and reputation); Citations (research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry Income (knowledge transfer) with the following percentages:/T.T/

Iran will send four women to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Weightlifting Championships for the first time ever.

The prestigious competition will kick off on Sept. 18 and will run for nine days in Pattaya, Thailand.

The entry list showed record-setting numbers, including a total of 734 athletes from 105 nations. Out of those athletes, 339 women are set to compete alongside 395 men.

This number of female weightlifters participating is a promising sign ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where gender equality is at the forefront. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the number of male and female weightlifters will be equal for the first time ever in Olympic history, barbend.com reported.

According to the IWF, there are some countries that include more women athletes than men. Some of these teams with more women representing them include Brazil, Denmark, Great Britain, and Ecuador.

For context, in 2017, the Iranian Weightlifting Federation announced that women weightlifters from the country could officially compete in the sport, and now two years later Iranian female weightlifters will make history at the IWF Worlds.

Poupak Basami, who wrote her name into the history book as the first Iranian woman to participate at the Asian Weightlifting Championships, will represent the country in the 55kg weight category.

Abrisham Arjomandkhah (64kg), Elham Hosseini (71kg) and Parisa Jahanfekrian (87kg) are the other Iranian women participating in the competition.

The Iranian female team will be headed by Maryam Amrollah in the competition.

The Iranian sportswomen have shown that they have the potential to make the nation proud after shining in the international events in the last years. / T. T/

Having a 0.53 percent share of the global economy, Iran holds the 27th place in the list of world’s top economies, according to the World Bank (WB).

Based on the latest data released by WB, Iran’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tops that of many other countries in the region and world including Norway, UAE, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, and Finland, IRIB reported on Sunday.

According to WB, the United States and China are the world’s most powerful economies, accounting for 23.89 percent and 15.86 percent of the world’s economy, respectively, followed by Japan, Germany, Britain, France and India.

The data, however, indicates that the gap between China and the U.S. is gradually decreasing.

The world’s top 15 countries account for 75 percent of the total global GDP, which based on the WB report on global economy in 2018, amounted at $85.8 trillion.

Back in January, WB predicted a 1.1 percent GDP growth for Iran in 2020 and 2021.

The bank saw a -3.6 percent growth for the country’ GDP in 2019 but expected it to experience 1.1 percent of GDP growth in the following two years.

Global economic growth is projected to slow to 2.9 percent in 2019 from a downwardly revised 3 percent in 2018 amid rising downside risks, the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report published that month.

The World Bank said the outlook for the global economy “has darkened” as global financing conditions have tightened, trade tensions “have intensified,” and some large emerging markets and developing economies have experienced significant financial market stress. /T.T/

Environmental education will be included in the country’s pre-primary schools’ curriculum in the new school year (beginning September 23) to prepare children for environment protection.

In Iran, pre-primary school is a 1-year education process for children aged 5 to 6 years to be prepared before entering elementary schools. It has been made compulsory over the past few years.

Environmental education aiming to make the students committed and informed of the environmental values in early ages has become a great challenge for the Iranian schools’ curriculum, so that educational materials on environment protection have been included in 11th grade curriculum since 2017, which turned out mostly inefficient.

Early childhood is a time when skills are well acquired, not the age of 16 when all the cognitive and behavioral characteristic of the child is already formed; making changes to what has been formed before is not easy at all.

While these educational materials on environment protection are entering the pre-primary schools to be acquired at earlier childhood ages to make favorable cognitive and behavioral changes in the students, ISNA quoted Reza Shayesteh, , an official with Tehran department of environment, as saying on Wednesday.

“The first step we have taken in this regard was preparing an educational package for the teachers and trainers, through which they will be able to teach environmental education to children in a comprehensible way,” he explained.

The book, which is entitled “human and environment” and comprises 7 lessons focusing on the importance of water, soil, air, energy, waste, biodiversity and environment, will also be taught in pre-primary school, he noted.

He went on to say that environmental experts attend schools on important environmental occasions such as World Environment Day, adding, these experts familiarize the students with environmental concepts by holding competitions and offering various prizes.

The students are trained to protect environment and natural resources and employ them in their very life; so only textbooks cannot contribute much to this end, he lamented, adding, therefore, educational materials must be taught in different methods in universities as well as all school grades.

He further called on the citizens to participate defending the environment and cooperate to preserve the natural resources.

One of the main concerns for every nation is the environment and the interaction between the people and their surrounding environment; for the life of human as well as all other animals depends on the environment. Yet, in the past two centuries with the apparent great advances, human beings have caused damages to the environment consciously or unconsciously, and Iran is no exception.

In spite of the fact that Iran is dealing with 4 major environmental issues, including water scarcity, soil erosion, air pollution and endangered biodiversity, neither of the responsible officials, nor the public have the necessary knowledge to find proper solutions for containing the issues, thus their poor natural resource management along with not being committed has exacerbated the country’s environmental issues.

So, one way to contain environmental issues in the country is training the people not to hurt the environment and wildlife while making them aware of the values, but this will be achieved through education processes from early childhood.

But, for environment to be an all-encompassing concern for the public, it should be based on the educational materials and school curriculum at different grades of education which in turn requires proper programming, fine materials and curriculum, providing textbooks in line with its objectives, and well-trained and informed teachers capable of perceiving the concepts and making them comprehensible for the students to consider environment safeguarding not only as a material, but a human responsibility. /T.T/