NEW DELHI (IRNA) -- Iranian Ambassador to India said here on Friday that holding of the culture week of Iran in India would strengthen not only the solidarity and the cultural ties between two nations of India and Iran but also will help development of the tourism infrastructures in the two countries.

To a question put up by IRNA reporter, Syed Mehdi Nabizadeh said: “Holding of Iran’s culture week in India and that of India in Iran would be possible according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the Republic of India for the coming three years.
The first four days of Iran’s culture week in India would commence from April 30, 2008, in New Delhi and the remaining two days of the same will be held in the Western Indian city of Mumbai, the business capital of India.
Esfandyar Rahim Maashaei, Vice President of Iran and the President of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Karan Singh, the President of ICCR will attend the inaugural ceremony of the culture week at the National Museum in New Delhi, Nabizadeh said.
The culture week festival of Iran in India will include a variety of folk music from Lorestan and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces and recitations of poems from Shams and Maulana beside those of Shahnameh for two hours every night.
With participation of a number of academicians and also political, cultural and scientific personalities of Iran and India, a two-day seminar will also be held where Iranian Vice President and Iranian Ambassador to India would deliver speeches on the 3000-year history of the relations between Iran and India.
At the end of the seminar a special award would be conferred on certain personalities to appreciate their crucial roles in expansion and strengthening of the cultural ties between India and Iran.
Holding photos, books, handicrafts and tourism exhibitions, displaying the costumes of the different communities of Iran and organizing live workshops on the Iranian handicrafts would be part of the culture week.
The colorful culture week of Iran in the Indian capital will come to an end on May 3, 2008 with a Iranian night at the Culture House of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi.
According to the officials in charge of the culture week at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi, similar programs will be held in Mumbai.