Cultural figures and Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi attended the ceremony.
Foreign scholars attend the 6th International Congress of World Teachers of Persian Language and Literature, which opened at the University of Tehran on January 15, 2009. (Mehr/Majid Asgaripur)
“The Persian language originates from an ancient civilization and country. Language and civilization are related to one another, and improvements in civilizations lead to the enrichment of languages,” Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad mentioned during the event.
Ahmadinejad called Iran’s converting to Islam one of the most important factors in the improvement of the Persian language since Islam introduced Persian language and culture to many other nations.
At the ceremony, Iran’s culture minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi referred to the Persian language as the language of science, epic and Iranian and Islamic culture and civilization.
“Persian academics are the messengers of Persian language which is a language of culture and wisdom from ancient times. It is a language that summons the world’s people to freedom and an intelligent world view,” he mentioned.
Many articles were submitted to the secretariat of the congress and 150 teachers from 50 different countries with a large geographical spread are attending the gala, the secretary of the congress Abbasali Vafaii mentioned during opening ceremony.
During his speech, he asked Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to expand Persian language and literature departments in the universities of other countries and also to dispatch Iranian Persian language professors to foreign countries.
He also proposed that officials establish a permanent secretariat for the Congress of World Teachers of Persian Language and Literature and a special university for Persian language and literature in Iran.
The congress aims to focus on post-Islamic Revolution literature including Persian prose and verse, Vafaii added.
Scholars Seyyed Muhammad Akram Ikram from Pakistan, Ruh-ul-Amin Amini from Afghanistan, Jafar Muhammad tarmizi from Uzbekistan and Ali Musavi Garmarudi from Iran recited some of their poems.
Recently published books about the Persian language and literature, including 213 poetry and storybooks released by Iran’s Ministry of Culture, will go on display at a book fair on the sidelines of the congress.
Foreign guests of the congress are scheduled to have several meetings with cultural officials from Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.
SB/YAW
END
MNA
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