According to the report of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the value of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Iran in 2021 hit $1.425 billion, showing about 18.6% hike as compared to a year earlier.

Regarding the situation of foreign investment worldwide, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Iran reached $1.425 billion in 2021, showing an $83 million hike as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

This is while that foreign investment in Iran in 2020, 2019, and 2018 registered an 11, 4.36, and 30 percent decline respectively.

The trend of foreign investment in Iran in the past decade has witnessed a declining trend, the report added.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, $582.1 trillion was invested worldwide within the framework of FDI in 2021, showing considerable growth as compared to a year earlier.

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The Director-General of Iranian Food and Drug Administration for Medical Equipment Affairs said that Iran is currently exporting medical equipment to 63 countries including European, Asian and South American nations.

Rouhollah Mazinani made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting of managers of universities of medical sciences held in Kermanshah on Tuesday evening.

He put the number of current production licenses issued in this field at 1,800, 1,600 of which enjoy export licenses.

The director-general also said that over 20-million-euro worth of medical equipment was exported from the country last year in the Iranian calandar (ended March 20, 2022), the value of which is increasing regularly.

Turning to the issue that there is not any restriction in the field of exporting medical equipment, Mazinani added that his administration has prioritized meeting domestic demands and then, has focused on exporting the related products overseas.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he referred to the production of medical equipment in the country and stated that about 45 percent of country’s requirements in the field of medical, dentistry, laboratory, clinical, hospital equipment and related industries are produced inside the country in line with reducing imports of these products into the country. /MNA/

Seven Iranian children have been awarded honorary diplomas at the 24th Nova Zagora International Youth Art Exhibition in Bulgaria.

Parnia Mohammadi, Nazanin-Zahra Khateri, Elena Omid, Fatima Solgi, Fatemeh Masudi, Zahra Asgari and Paniz Nikbakht are all from different branches of the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults – Kanoon.

A specialized jury chaired by Professor Marin Dobrev selected the winners and the entries to the exhibition. Stara Zagora, Suzana Karanfilova, and Sofia and Maria Petkova were the other members of the panel.

The jury honored 10 schools and fine arts institutes each with an honorary collection certificate and 15 teachers for their teaching work.

The Honorary Diploma for Best Children’s Work was given to the 11-year-old Turkish child Beliz Renda from the Atolye Veysel Acar in Trabzon.

The Honorary Diploma for Best Collection was awarded to the Rabeya Art Academy in the capital of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Mayya Ananieva from the Art School Colorit in Pleven, Bulgaria, received the Honorary Diploma for Best Teacher.

The Nova Zagora International Youth Art Exhibition was organized from May 30 to June 30, showcasing works by children from Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, UK, Germany, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Canada, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, USA, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro and the Czech Republic.

The exhibition is organized every year by Nova Zagora Association and Duga Art Studio.

The 25th edition of the exhibit will open on June 1, 2023 at the Nova Zagora Rusi Karabiberov Art Gallery . /T.T/

Iranian athletes are to team up with rivals from Turkey and Kyrgyzstan in the 2022 Greco-Roman World Cup.

During a two-day event, Iran will face Turkey in the first match at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 5.

In the second match, which will be held at 17:00 on Saturday, Iranian wrestlers are to compete with the Kyrgyz team.

The 2022 Greco-Roman World Cup will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 5-6. /MNA/

The Iranian agriculture minister Seyyed Javad Sadatinejad said that the country could become a hub for exporting agricultural products to other countries as it enjoys having vast capabilities and capabilities.

Iranian Minister of Agriculture Seyyed Javad Sadatinejad made the comments in a meeting entitled “food diplomacy” which focused on the importance of increasing agricultural trade exchanges with Central Asian countries in Tehran on Wednesday.

Sadatinejad said in the meeting, “given Iran’s unique agricultural potential, there is the possibility of exporting agricultural products to Central Asian countries including Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.”

“Considering the proportionate measures that have been taken in the field of producing healthy, standard and high-quality agricultural products during the past year, we will witness an increase in the export of agricultural products in the near future,” Iranian minister said.

Sadatinejad pointed out that “Iran will become a hub for exporting agricultural products in the region, because we have very good capacities in the field of agricultural, horticultural, livestock, fishery, animal feed and aquatic products production.”

“We must seriously take into account the necessary standards for the quality of agricultural export products and animal feed so that we do not lose the target markets and can become the hub of the region, which is the main goal of the country.” /MNA/

The construction of a 10-megawatt plate fuel research reactor with 20% enrichment began in Isfahan during a ceremony in the presence of the Iranian nuclear chief on Thursday.

In the presence of the vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the construction of a 10-megawatt plate fuel research reactor with 20 percent enrichment began in Isfahan on Thursday.

The ceremony of starting the construction of a 10 MW research reactor was held today in the Isfahan nuclear facility in the presence of Mohammad Eslami, Vice President and AEOI chairman, and a group of senior managers of the country’s nuclear industry.

The development comes after Eslami, announced on his visit to the Isfahan nuclear facility in August that to complete the nuclear production cycle, the construction of a research reactor will soon begin at the Isfahan site. /MNA/

According to the latest edition of the best global universities ranking released by U. S. News, 52 Iranian institutions were ranked among the best institutions worldwide.

These institutions are from the U.S. and more than 90 other countries that have been ranked based on 13 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations.

The overall Best Global Universities ranking encompasses 2,000 top institutions, up from 1,750 last year, spread across 95 countries, up from 90 last year.

Universities of “Tehran”, “Azad Islami”, “Medical Sciences and Health Services of Tehran”, “Noshirvani Babol Industrial University”, and “Sharif University of Technology” are the top five Iranian institutions in this ranking.

In the previous edition of this ranking system, 44 institutions from Iran were among the top institutions in the world, which have reached 52 this year.

Only institutions evaluated in this system that have at least 1,250 articles in the last five years (from 2016 to 2020) in the “Web of science”.

The University of Tehran and Azad Islamic University are among the 500 top intuitions in the world, according to this ranking.

The U.S. News uses 13 key indicators (global research reputation, regional research reputation, number of publications, books, conferences, normalized citation impact, number of all citations, number of publications among 10 percent most cited, the ratio of publications among 10 percent of high-quality publications, number of international collaborations [relative to the country], the number of global collaborations, the number of highly cited articles among one percent of high-quality publications, and the proportion of highly cited articles among one percent of high-quality publications, to evaluate institutions.

“Harvard University” is the leader in the world with the highest score, followed by “The Massachusetts Institute of Technology”, “Stanford University”, “The University of California-Berkeley”, and “The University of Oxford”.

Academic quality

Fifty-eight universities from Iran were listed among the top universities in Asia, according to the 2022 Asia University Rankings of the Times Higher Education.

The 2022 edition of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, based on universities’ contributions to delivering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), listed 27 Iranian universities.

In the previous edition of the ranking, 44 institutions from Iran were among the top institutions in the world.

The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities 2022 has ranked 694 Iranian institutions among 30,000 top universities across the world.

Also, 59 Iranian universities have been listed among the top 3,000 institutions in the world in terms of academic quality, according to the 2021-2022 report released by University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP).

The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Graduate Employability Rankings 2022 list has been released, which included three Iranian universities out of a total of 550 institutes worldwide that highlighted graduate employment processes.

Meanwhile, 41 Iranian universities in engineering sciences and 12 universities in computer sciences have made a place among the top 1,188 universities in the world with the announcement of Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 by subject.

It also has introduced 59 Iranian universities among the top institutions in World University Rankings 2022.

The THE Education Young University Rankings 2021 listed 26 Iranian institutions among the world’s best universities that are 50 years old or younger.

Moreover, 34 Iranian universities and institutions were listed among the top 1,000 in the world, according to Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2021. /T.T/

 

An exhibition of Iranian handicrafts and traditional arts is planned to be held on the sidelines of the Qatar World Cup, the deputy tourism minister has said.

As part of the exhibition, which is organized by Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Iran will host spectators and tourists and create a space where Iranian traditional art can be seen with Iranian symbols, IRNA quoted Maryam Jalali as saying on Tuesday.

A variety of cultural, artistic, and handicraft works will go on show in this exhibition, along with the latest scientific and technological achievements, the official added.

The exhibition can serve as a platform for attracting tourists to Iran during and after the World Cup by introducing Iran’s attractions and capabilities to the world, she noted.

“The goal is to showcase the great achievements of the Iranian people, as well as the attractions and events related to football, to counter Iranophobic statements,” she mentioned.

Back in August, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade Omid Qalibaf announced in addition to handicrafts exhibitions, Doha will also host five more Iranian exhibitions in the fields of food, furniture and chandeliers, decoration, construction materials, clothing, Islamic fashion, hotel and catering, and technical and engineering services.

These exhibits will be held in collaboration with Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPO) as well as Iran’s embassy in Doha, the official added.

In addition to introducing Iran’s export goods to Qatari businessmen, the exhibitions will include business meetings between Qatari and Iranian businessmen, he explained.

Back in May, Iran’s 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 the major event.

Zarghami says the country must take the immense opportunity to introduce the county to the international spectators of the major event. “A significant number of travelers, mostly young people, would arrive in Qatar to attend the World Cup… It provides an exceptional opportunity for us to properly introduce tourist attractions of the country.”

“Over the past months, we have prepared some plans to arrack attendees to the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer championship,” Zarghami said. “Most importantly, our [southern] islands and free zones [in the Persian Gulf] are prepared to host foreign spectators since they are appealing and wallet-friendly destinations.”

Many people are interested in visiting Iran for its historical attractions and eco-tourism, to name a few, Zarghami stated.

His deputy for tourism, Ali-Asghar Shalbafian, says the landmark event would give Iran a chance to dwindle the so-called anti-Iranian sentiments known as Iranophobia. “Qatar’s World Cup offers a unique opportunity to introduce destinations near the host country, and we should take advantage of this opportunity to confront Iranophobia.”

To make good use of this occasion, it is necessary to develop consensus among the relevant agencies, and if this does not occur, it will be detrimental to the country, Shalbafian explained.

The geographical position of Iran and its unique tourist attractions make it a potential destination for World Cup spectators, the official added. “Therefore, proper policy-making and management in collaboration with the private sector can pave the way for the widespread use of this event.”

Head of the Iranian Tour Operators Ebrahim Pourfaraj believes the World Cup should be a turning point in Iran’s tourism industry. “By attracting World Cup spectators to Iran, the Iranian tourism industry could secure a brighter future.” There is also a need for the Iranian southern islands of Kish and Qeshm to re-affirm their accommodation centers’ capacity to receive foreign travelers, he noted.

The Islamic Republic expects to reap a bonanza from its numerous tourist spots such as bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, mausoleums, churches, towers, and mansions, of which 26 are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Iran football team became the 14th team to book their place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Moreover, the ‘Persian Leopards’ became the first Asian team to book their place in a major competition. /T.T/

A festival dedicated to grapes and its products is currently underway in Hazaveh, central Markazi province, a local official has said.

The week-long event has been held after two years halt over the outbreak of the coronavirus, Masumeh Hosseinkhani explained on Monday.

Organized by the private sector, the festival features 70 booths offering grapes products for the villagers, the official added.

The festival has recorded sales of more than 70 billion rials ($234,000) in its last edition, and this year it is expected to reach 100 billion rials ($334,000), she noted.

Markazi province is widely considered as the industrial capital of the country. In addition, the provinceis rich in natural, historical, cultural, and religious attractions.

Hand-woven carpets and kilims, made in its cities, including Farahan, Sarugh, Lilivan, Senejan, and Vafs, are known internationally. /T.T/

Mostafa Mousavi Sabet :The Spanish documentary “Outtakes” (“Descartes”) has won the Grand Prix at the 39th Tehran International Short Film Festival (TISFF).

Co-directed by Concha Barquero and Alejandro Alvarado, the film brings the forgotten images of a banned film to life on the screen after 40 years.

The filmmakers visited the Spanish Cinemathèque in 2016 to search for information for a project on the documentary film “Rocío”, which had been censored in the early 1980s. There were 260 rolls of 16mm negative among the materials deposited in its warehouses. They were the outtakes from the editing, footage that was left out of the final version.

In a video message screened during the closing ceremony of the festival held on Monday at Milad Tower, Barquero and Alvarado expressed their happiness for winning the award and thanked the organizers and the jury.

The jury was comprised of Romanian director Mirona Radu, Lithuanian programmer Edvinas Puksta, Turkish filmmaker Tahsin Isbilen, Portugal’s Curtas Vila do Conde short film festival representative Sergio Gomes and Iranian cinematographer Mahmud Kalari.

“Absence” by French director Marc Hericher was selected as best animated film.

It is about a homeless man, who collapses violently on the ground, and remains frozen on all fours. The journalists’ sudden interest in this man takes us into a grotesque and absurd media vortex.

The award for best documentary went to “Heimat” by Italian filmmaker Giovanni Montagnana. This film follows a soldier, surrounded by the enemy and permanently trapped in the city, who writes his last letter home.

“Basin of Attraction” was awarded as best experimental film.

Directed by Jonathan Pêpe from France, the film presents itself as a fake wild-life documentary. The film questions the sacred relationship to objects and the different statuses conferred upon them throughout their lives. Precious objects – votive offerings from the National Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia – ornaments from churches or Roman sculptures, as well as contemporary detritus come together and evolve together in a kind of amniotic fluid.

The award for best fiction was given to “Old Windows” by English director Paul Holbrook.

It tells the story of a struggling cafe owner, who is intrigued when a mysterious, elderly stranger takes an interest in her life.

In a video message, Holbrook said that for him, it seemed like a dream to win an award from the festival. He also praised the festival and thanked the organizers.

The best audience film award went to the Iranian war drama “Black Soda” by Mohammad Paydar.

In the national competition, the award for best experimental was given to “Breakfast” by Morteza Farhadnia, while “I’m Back Alive” by Mojtaba Heidari was selected as best documentary.

“The Sprayer” by Farnush Abedi won the award for best animated film and “Andarva” by Amir Pazirofteh was picked as best fiction film.

Photo: A video message by Co-directors Alejandro Alvarado and Concha Barquero is screened during the closing ceremony of the 39th Tehran International Short Film Festival at Milad Tower on October 24, 2022 after their movie “Outtakes” won the Grand Prix. (IRNA/Asghar Khamseh) /T.T/