TEHRAN – A selection of Iranian handicrafts from Sistan-Baluchestan province went on show in Mexico in a program aimed at marking diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Sets of Baluchi needlework dominated the exhibition held at Los Pinos, which was the official residence and office of the President of Mexico from 1934 to 2018, Fars reported on Saturday.

Needlework (aka Souzan-douzi in Persian) is the art of drawing images on plain fabrics by sewing delicate stitches using a needle and colorful yarns. The craft is a very common occupation among people of the southeastern province.

The first diplomatic contact between Qajar Iran (then known as “Persia”) and Porfiriato-era Mexico took place in 1889. Later, in 1937, another treaty was signed between the two nations, and on 15 October 1964, formal diplomatic relations were established.

Earlier this year, the Mexican embassy in Tehran staged a photography exhibition titled “Postcards from Mexico and Iran” that took an intimate look at landscapes, religious temples, and life. The show was deemed by many as a lively witness to the cultural cooperation between Mexico and Iran and an invitation to explore the depths of the two.

The collective province -- Sistan in the north and Baluchestan in the south -- accounts for one of the driest regions of Iran with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west and an obvious rise in humidity in the coastal regions. In ancient times, the region was a crossword in the Indus Valley and the Babylonian civilizations.

Sistan-Baluchestan possesses special significance because of being located in a strategic transit location, especially Chabahar, which is the only ocean port in Iran and the best and easiest access route of the middle Asian countries to free waters. The vast province is home to several distinctive archaeological sites and natural attractions, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, namely Shahr-e-Soukhteh (Burnt City) and Lut desert.

AFM