Javad Zarif received Italy’s Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities Massimo Bray who is in Tehran in his visit to the country’s cultural officials, on Sunday. Zarif reiterated the importance of improving cultural ties with Italy, believing that it would boost political ties as well, and that “ thus, the foreign ministry supports cultural diplomacy.”
The head of Iran’s diplomacy machinery believed that the dominant political culture was an ‘improper’ culture. “Despite 22 years after the Cold War, the culture of the era still bestrides on the present era of the 21st century, and we need to change this dominant culture in international politics,” asserted Zarif, citing promotion of the culture of containing extremism and violence as Islamic Republic of Iran’s official line of diplomacy.
“Violence and extremism are inimical to civilization, and all civilizations have common elements in themselves to confront violence and extremism,” said Zarif, lamenting the emergence of the recent culture of extremism, that provided the opportunist forces in the region to perpetrate acts of murder and violence, and led the other party from other side of the world to believe that freedom could be imposed by coercion.
Zarif believed that these were two sides of the same coin which assume that violence would be the best means to achieve political ends, and that which would be effectively curbed through cultural campaign.
Italy’s Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities expressed satisfaction from visiting Iran, and highlighted improving of cultural ties in different sectors. He evaluated the role of culture as pivotal in promoting peace and stability among nations. “Cultural cooperation makes the grounds for trust on which to grow,” added the Italian official, who also provided a report of his visits from Tehran and his views of bilateral cultural relations to the media.
SH/ZK
MNA
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