TEHRAN—Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian chaired a ministerial meeting of the Ancient Civilizations Forum on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday.

In his speech, the Iranian minister underlined the need for greater cooperation among the member states as a soft power to stop conflicts, violence, and extremism and help tackle global problems.

The official said the member states should join hands to improve an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, understanding, and multilateralism more than ever, the ministry’s website reported.

He further voiced his concern about the ongoing smuggling of historical properties and cultural heritage and stressed that necessary measures should be taken to prevent the trend.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Amir-Abdollahian called for initiatives to employ technological and artificial intelligence achievements to help preserve the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of ancient civilizations.

The repeated sacrilege of the Holy Quran and the silence of certian governments, out of complacency, are a result of the evil political goals to mar the atmosphere of interaction and understanding between the nations, the Iranian foreign minister warned, reiterating that the Islamic Republic condemns such actions in the strongest terms.

Amir-Abdollahian said Iran expects responsible governments to play their role to help preserve civilized, cultural, and religious interaction and understanding between nations by criminalizing and prosecuting the perpetrators of the sinister acts.

He finally noted that the next meeting of the ministers of the Ancient Civilizations Forum will be held on December 21 in Tehran, and invited the ministers of the member states to take part in the event.

The Ancient Civilizations Assembly was established in 2017 with Iran, Armenia, Italy, Bolivia, Peru, Iraq, Egypt, Mexico, and Greece as its member states. It seeks to promote international exchanges, strengthen multilateral cooperation, safeguard cultural diversity and world culture, uphold civilization's legacy and advancement, and arouse the vitality of ancient civilization’s wisdom to offer a solution to issues facing modern society.

Iran holds the rotating presidency of the Forum in 2023.

AFM