TEHRAN – Iran announced on Thursday a plan to set up cultural centers in Venezuela and Brazil.   

“Organizing cultural days in Venezuela and other countries in Latin America is one of the topics that will be pursued by the centers,” Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili said in a Press release.

He was a member of a delegation that accompanied President Ebrahim Raisi on a visit to Venezuela last week.

“In a meeting with the Venezuelan Culture Minster, Ernesto Villegas Poljak, we signed several agreements, including a memorandum of understanding which is a roadmap to cultural relations between the two countries for five years and MOUs outlining media cooperation and relations between the national libraries of the countries,” Esmaeili said.

Based on an agreement signed last week, an Iranian cultural delegation will attend the International Book Fair of Venezuela (FILVEN), which will take place in Caracas in November.

In addition, an Iranian cultural days event will be organized concurrently with the book fair.

Esmaeili also said that the Spanish section of the National Library and Archives of Iran will be developed by Venezuela and Iran also will do the same about the Persian section of Venezuela's national library.

Based on an agreement, a team of Iranian experts will be dispatched to Venezuela to discuss a plan for investment in paper manufacturing.

“Due to Iran’s capacity to manufacture quality paper and the South American market’s need for paper, the two countries are eager to cooperate in this field and it would seem to be a good investment for Iran,” Esmaeili said.  

He said that the two countries have also agreed to jointly produce a feature film about the story of fuel shipments by Iranian tankers to Venezuela.

In 2020, Iran sent oil tankers to Venezuela amid the United States sanctions against both countries. The first tanker from a flotilla of five loaded with cargoes of Iranian fuel reached Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone on May 23.

The Venezuelan and Iranian culture ministers have held several meetings over the past six months.

The first was in March when Esmaeili visited Caracas to attend the International Fair of Venezuelan-Iranian Culture and Friendship.  

On his part, Villegas Poljak also visited Tehran in May to launch a Persian translation of his book “April, Inside the Coup” at the Tehran International Book Fair.

Photo: Venezuelan Culture Minster Ernesto Villegas Poljak and the Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili, pose after signing a memorandum of understanding in Caracas, Venezuela on June 13, 2023.

MMS/YAW