TEHRAN – Iran and Turkmenistan will hold a joint event in Ashgabat to promote tourism, cultural heritage, and handicrafts.

A new chapter in Iran-Turkmenistan relations started to develop, especially in the cultural field after presidents of the two neighboring countries met in Ashgabat last year, CHTN quoted Iran’s cultural attaché in Ashgabat as saying on Monday.

Since then, many cultural events have been arranged, one of which is a three-day tourism event scheduled to be held from October 31 to November 2 in Turkmenistan’s capital, Navid Rasuli said.

The event will be attended by some Iranian travel insiders, cultural heritage experts, craftspeople, exhibitors, musicians as well as their Turkman counterparts, the official said.

B2B meetings, crafts workshops, live performances, culinary delights, and setting up stalls dedicated to culture tourism, health and medical tourism, and natural attractions will be pillars of the event, Rasuli stated.

Iran and Turkmenistan enjoy arrays of commonalities when it comes to the cultural heritage of the two neighboring nations. Available samples include breeding Turkmen horses and Turkmen-style. The latter gained a joint UNESCO label last year at the 17th session of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

To foster tourism, the Islamic Republic is considering a border-easing policy based on which it may unilaterally drop visa requirements for passport holders of 60 states, according to Ali-Asghar Shalbafian who is the deputy tourism minister.

The proposal to waive visa requirements with 60 countries is made by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts and is currently under consideration by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant authorities.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Iran reached some 2.93 million between January and July 2023, according to the latest tourism barometer issued by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). However, the average statistics of Iran’s tourism from January to August 2023 is 50% lower than the same period in 2019 based on the barometer that tracks the sector’s post-pandemic recovery throughout 2023 up to the end of July.

Iran expects to reap a bonanza from its numerous tourist spots such as bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, mausoleums, churches, towers, and mansions, of which 27 are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Currently, a total of 13 cities and three villages in Iran have been registered by the World Council of Handicrafts as “world cities of handicrafts”.

AFM