The Director General of Department on Promotion of International Businesses at the Iranian Vice Presidency for Science and Technology Rouhollah Estiri said on Mon. that knowledge-based companies exported over $600 million worth of products from March 21, 2019 to March 20, 2020.

Turning to the activity of knowledge-based companies in the field of export, he added, “the department has focused on promoting export of products of knowledge-based companies as one of its main missions and in this way, it has taken considerable steps.”

For this purpose, the department has thus far presented high-quality services to a number of 2,500 knowledge-based companies for empowering and developing market, he emphasized.

To date, more than 450 knowledge-based companies have exported their products to other countries, he said, adding, “medical equipment and medicines are the main products exported by knowledge-based firms to abroad.”

Given the measures taken by knowledge-based companies, export market of Iranian knowledge-based companies is satisfactory, he said, adding, “effective steps have been taken to develop export market of these companies despite sanctions imposed against the country and existence of obstacles such as outbreak of coronavirus.”

Efforts are underway to export products of knowledge-based companies in Central Asian and neighboring countries’ markets, he stressed.

Focusing on international markets is one of the long-term objectives of all knowledge-based companies, he added.

MNA/I

Lionel Messi broke social networks after responding to the video of Arat Hosseini, who showed off his skills in a Barcelona shirt.

It was in Instagram where the Argentine star surprised Arat thanking the gesture he had.

“Thanks Arat!! I see a lot of class there, impressive! Hug!!”.

Six-year-old Hosseini, who was born in northern Iran but now lives in Liverpool, has become an internet sensation due to a series of videos highlighting his incredible skills.

His Instagram account has accrued an astonishing 2.7million followers, including boxer Anthony Joshua, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand and Liverpool Champions League winner Luis Garcia.

Arat’s favorite sport is soccer, but also he has boasted of being very good in disciplines such as gymnastic, basketball and taekwondo. /T.T/

Iranian short film ‘Don’t Touch Anything’, directed by Arghavan Heidar Eslam, will be screened at 17th edition of the Vienna International Short Film Festival in Austria.

‘Don’t Touch Anything’ narrates the story of a woman who suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

The Vienna Shorts Festival is a major international film festival celebrating short-form movies. It promotes, presents and discusses the short-form version of film making, with a huge lineup of Austrian and international films. The festival followed the motto “Courage!” and featured some 305 films from 55 countries, with particularly strong representation from female directors. Particular highlights were:

The 17th edition of the Vienna International Short Film Festival will be held from May 28 – Jun 2. Due to the coronavirus, the event will take place online only.

MNA/

Iran’s We Defeat Coronavirus International Cartoon Contest has received 4200 submissions from cartoonists from 88 countries.

“Out of all the submissions, about 2000 cartoons were showcased for 28 days at irancartoon.ir, which has been visited by 1,340,000 people,” said Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai, the director of the Art Bureau’s Visual Arts Office that launched the competition 40 days ago.

The cartoons are also on view on the website of the Institute of Contemporary Visual Arts.

Iran participated in the contest with 436 cartoonists standing on the top. Turkey came next with 82 artists, and then India with 75, Indonesia with 70, Brazil with 48, and Russia with 30.

The contest was organized by Iran’s Art Bureau in collaboration with the Health Ministry. /T.T/

Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has announced that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), excluding the oil sector, has registered a growth rate of 0.9 percent in the autumn of the past Iranian calendar year, Mehr news agency reported.

It is while last month the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati had put the GDP growth at 1.2 percent for the mentioned season, which is the third quarter of the Iranian year.

“The country’s economic performance shows that despite maximum pressure imposed by the U.S. sanctions, Iran’s economy has achieved good results in the framework of the production boom strategy outlined by the leader of the Islamic Revolution”, Hemmati wrote in an Instagram post at that time.

CBI put the growth for the country’s agriculture, industry, construction, and services sectors at 7.8 percent, 7 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively for the mentioned quarter. /T.T/

Hundreds of Iranian artists have launched the nationwide #Moshahonar movement to entertain people who have chosen to stay at home voluntarily to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

In a statement published on Saturday, the artists, including thespians, cineastes, painters, cartoonists and writers, have said that they will produce artworks to showcase on social networks for at least the upcoming 100 days in order to make the stay at home almost tolerable.

“Artists from all fields and across Iran will be with you in your homes to bring the monster of fear, threat, sorrow and misery to its knees,” reads the statement, which has been signed by veteran artists such as Ali Nasirian, Gholamhossein Amirkhani, Hassan Nahid, Parviz Parastui, Nader Mashayekhi and Hushang Kamkar.

Iran has canceled all theatrical and musical performances and shut down movie theaters shortly after some cases of coronavirus were detected in Qom in mid-February. The country also postponed the 33rd Tehran International Book Fair and the 38th Fajr International Film Festival as a result.

Over the past month, Iranian artists individually and in groups have shared their productions online to encourage people and medical staff in the hospitals in the fight against the blight.

Numerous singers such as Reza Yazdani, Ruzbeh Bemani and Hamid Hami and numerous bands like Rastak and Gil-o-Amard have organized online concerts over the past month to entertain people during the home quarantine. /T.T/

Iran has established 95 schools in 43 countries around the world, said an official with the ministry of education.

The schools are run under the supervision of seven offices in the United Arab Emirates; Kuwait; Qatar and Bahrain; Syria and Lebanon and Jordan; Turkey; the Indian subcontinent; and Europe, ISNA quoted Gholmreza Karimi as saying on Sunday.

Currently, 14,027 Iranian students are studying at the overseas schools, he added.

Meanwhile, 14 schools for foreign nationals, 11 schools special for Afghan nationals, 4 international schools, 11 non- government schools, and 9 schools affiliated with embassies are operating in the country, he concluded. / T.T/

Nominated among 5 other players by AFC, Iran international goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand has the chance to become the Asian World Cup Hero.

Beiranvand will vie with with Park Ji-sung (Korea Republic), Sami Al Jaber (Saudi Arabia), Tim Cahill (Australia) and Keisuke Honda (Japan) for the title.

Team Melli and Persepolis goalkeeper Beiranvand was shortlisted for the AFC’s Player of the Year in the men’s category, in mid-December 2019.
Over the years a number of Asian players have produced the goods at the FIFA World Cup, lighting up arenas around the globe and providing incredible moments that have gone down in the Continent’s footballing folklore.

With March’s Asian Qualifiers postponed until later in the year, the-afc.com turns back the clock to highlight the achievements of five Asian players who have shone brightest on the global showpiece.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of experts combined with the results of the public vote.

Carlos Queiroz’s Iran may have exited at the 2018 group stage, but it’s hard to argue the tournament wasn’t a success for Team Melli, while it’s equally difficult to contest that goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand wasn’t their star man.

The Persepolis shot-stopper shone as Iran edged past Morocco 1-0 in their opener and he then produced another string of excellent saves in a narrow 1-0 loss to Spain, when only a fortuitous Diego Costa goal got the better of the big custodian.

A goal down in their third game against Portugal, Iran conceded a penalty to hand Cristiano Ronaldo the chance to all but seal a place in the next round. In a moment Beiranvand would later describe as the biggest of his life, he dived to his left to deny one of the greatest players of all time and keep his country’s hopes alive.

Karim Ansarifard levelled in stoppage time before Mehdi Taremi missed a glorious chance to seal qualification to the Round of 16 for the first time. It was not to be for the Iranians, but Beiranvand departed Russia having left his mark on the world stage.

Now the fans can tell the-afc.com who is their favorite by voting in a poll which ends at 1800 (UTC 8) on April 15.

MNA/