TEHRAN – Pakistani Ambassador Riffat Masood has visited the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI), the library announced on Tuesday.

She also held a meeting with NLAI director Ashraf Borujerdi, and ways to expand relation were discussed during the visit.

Masood said that she had recently visited the Astan Qods Razavi Library and Museum in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad and praised the wide variety of resources preserved by the Iranian libraries.

“The process of preserving rare books and documents is far from satisfactory in Pakistan’s libraries, accordingly, we need NLAI’s cooperation to improve the process,” she said.

Masood announced her country’s readiness to sign a memorandum of understanding to facilitate collaboration on this issue.

Borujerdi welcomed Masood’s proposal and said, “We believe that Pakistani cultural heritage belongs to all people in the world, therefore it is necessary for it to be preserved.”

She said that organizing workshops and educational courses by Iranian experts in Pakistan can help improve the Pakistani librarians’ skills.

NLAI deputy director Ali Zarafshan, who also attended the meeting, said that the library has organized over 20 workshops on librarianship over the past few years and added that seven Pakistani librarians attended a weeklong workshop on preservation of rare manuscripts organized at the NLAI last year.

“Pakistani libraries hold many rare Persian manuscripts and documents, and this fact necessitates cooperation between Iran and Pakistan on the preservation of these valuable sources,” he noted.

Photo: NLAI director Ashraf Borujerdi (L) poses with Pakistani Ambassador Riffat Masood after receiving the book “Pakistan” from her during a meeting at the NLAI. (NLAI)

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