TEHRAN -- Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi said on Thursday that Qom should make progress in every area in order to determine the country’s cultural guidelines.

In an address at the opening ceremony of the fourth Art and Cultural Festival of Imam Reza (AS) at the shrine of Hazrat Masumeh (SA) in Qom, Saffar Harandi added that Qom has been a center for the dissemination of Shia thought and has been the cradle of many outstanding figures of the Islamic world due to the blessed Hazrat Masumeh (SA), the sister of Imam Reza (AS).

Referring to the Qom Seminary, the culture minister noted that the holy city was home to the late Imam Khomeini, the Founder of the Islamic Republic.

The fourth Art and Cultural Festival of Imam Reza (AS) began on the birth anniversary of Hazrat Masumeh (SA) and will end in Mashhad on the birth anniversary of Imam Reza (AS), which falls on December 3 this year.