Serbian minister: Tehran, Belgrade keen to expand cultural ties
Both Iran and Serbia are keen to develop cultural ties, declare the Serbian culture minister Speaking to IRNA, Vladan Vukosavljevic recalled that two years ago Iran took part in the 61st International Belgrade Book Fair (IBBF) as the guest of honor and now Serbia had a strong presence in 31st Tehran International Book Fair.
Highlighting the hospitality of the Iranians while visiting the Serbian pavilion, he noted that acquainting both the Iranians and Serbians with each other’s culture, literature and history is among the obligations for developing ties.
The Serbian minister hailed his country’s participation in the fair, adding that agreements have been concluded to translate more works into Serbian and Persian.
“During my trip to Iran, National Library and Archives Organization of Iran (NLAI) and National Library of Serbia signed an agreement on digitalizing both the libraries and exchanging assets,” he stated.
At the same time, it was agreed that in the coming year, Iranian carpets will be showcased in Serbia while Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art will hold an exhibition at National Museum of Serbia, he added.
Great Persian poets such as Khayyam, Ferdowsi and Sa’di are well-known throughout Serbia, he said, adding that Serbia intends to draw up a selection of Iranian works for Serbians who are interested in Iranian literature.
He pointed out that Iranian films are well known in the world cinema and the two countries have embarked on a project to produce a joint film.
He said that Serbia had lifted visa requirements for Iranians as of September 2, 2017 and the move was reciprocated by Iran on November 1.
This has helped raise the level of bilateral cooperation in different fields, particularly in tourism and exchange of goods.
Serbia was the guest country while Tunis (the capital city of Tunisia) was the guest city at the 31st Tehran International Book Fair which ended on Saturday.