TEHRAN- Iranian tourism minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan on Thursday said that his country is ready to hold further cultural events and exhibitions with Germany. 

He made the remarks during a meeting with the German ambassador to Tehran Hans-Udo Muzel, ISNA reported. 

Tehran’s Sadabad and Niavaran palace complexes are excellent venues for such cultural events, which also enjoy support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mounesan explained. 

For his part, Muzel said that cultures and people come closer together when joint cultural events are held. 

Communication between experts from the two countries is welcomed, especially in the field of cultural heritage, so they can learn from each other’s experiences, the envoy added. 

He also noted that Germany is eager to extend tourism relations between the two countries since it is not only one of Iran’s traditional tourism markets, but it also has the highest number of tourists among European countries in Iran and has a long history of archaeological cooperation with the ancient country.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mounesan expressed hope that the purchase of other batches of foreign corona vaccines and the production of domestically-developed ones in the next two months would result in a boom in tourism. 

The country’s tourism industry is not far behind what was done by other countries during the outbreak of the coronavirus, the minister added. 

Referring to establishing 400 hotels, increasing the number of eco-lodges to 2,200, restoring caravanserais and mansions to protect them and develop agritourism in the country over the past eight years, the minister mentioned that Iran’s tourism sector has good diversity and the country’s potential has been explored in that regard.

ABU/AFM