Iranian Minister of Culture and Guidance Mahdi Ismaili arrived this morning at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, at the head of a delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran, to participate in the opening of the “Days of Cultural Dawn” in Lebanon.

The Minister was received at the airport by the Minister of Culture, Judge Muhammad Al-Murtada, the Iranian Ambassador, Muhammad Jalal Firouzania, Deputy Amin Shari and a delegation from the Iranian embassy.

At the beginning of his speech, the Iranian Minister of Culture thanked Al-Murtada for the warm welcome, and considered that “the visit to brotherly Lebanon has very positive effects on our souls, and of course the historical relationship between the two brotherly countries.”

Ismaili said: “We are pleased to be able, through this honorable visit and through cooperation with His Excellency the Minister of Culture, to achieve further consolidation of this good brotherly relationship that exists between us. When we received this ministry in the government of President Ibrahim Raisi, we set the goal of strengthening and consolidating cultural, intellectual and artistic relations with all friendly countries, including Lebanon, of course.”

He added: “Through the cooperation between officials in the two countries and the sincere and constructive brotherly interaction with His Excellency Minister Muhammad Al-Mortada personally, I hope that in the next stage we will be able to consolidate cultural cooperation and intellectual and artistic exchange between the sisterly Lebanese Republic. We hope through this visit … that we will be able to Laying the basic foundations for the consolidation of these intellectual, cultural and artistic relations that we both aspire to.”

“We consider that the exchange of visits and official delegations between the two brotherly countries and from the current visit, we hope to host you in the near future for an official visit to Tehran, and that it is a prelude to further consolidating cultural and intellectual relations,” the minister concluded.

For his part, Morrtada told the Iranian minister that Lebanon looks forward to strengthening cultural relations between Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran.