The two-day seminar is organized to help introduce scholars of both Persian-speaking countries, said head of the library Rasul Jafarian at the press conference held at the library on Wednesday.
“Iran, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan speak Persian. A few other countries like India, Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan also have limited Persian-speaking communities. But Afghanistan enjoys a special place in the region since it was the vehicle for transfer of Persian culture to India,” Jafarian added.
Afghanistan is an important center for the Persian language and the country and its civilization should not be ignored due to its current economic problems, he said.
The library is ready to establish a joint research center of Iran and Afghanistan, he said, adding, “Iran National Library and Archives and the Science Ministry can be the pioneers, and the library is also willing to help. The library is determined to set up an Afghanistan studies department.”
“Most Iranian nationals are familiar with the Afghan workers across the country while scholars from both countries are not familiar with one another. Cultural exchange is the major goal of this seminar.
“We would like to publish Afghan products in Iran, avoiding the problems they face in printing their works in Pakistan,” he remarked.
He expressed hope that the seminar would be a beginning for the development of stronger cultural ties between the two countries.
Almost 50 Afghan guests are expected to attend the seminar in which history, periodicals, poetry, literature and culture will be discussed.
RM/YAW
END
MNA