Iran hosts ACD cultural summit

The first Senior Officials Meeting on Cultural Cooperation of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) has officially begun in the Iranian capital city of Tehran.

The two-day event was inaugurated Monday morning with the presence of Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini, Mehr News Agency reported.

The two Iranian officials delivered speeches at the inauguration ceremony of the ACD summit which hosts officials from Russia and 30 Asian countries including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, etc.

Iran’s Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs Javad Shamaqdari had earlier announced that Bahraini officials were not invited to the ACD meeting due to Bahrain’s current repression of peaceful anti-government demonstrators in the Persian Gulf state, which Iran has condemned for being against Islamic laws and international human rights regulations.

The officials participating in the ACD meeting will also attend other cultural programs on the sidelines of the event.

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has organized the ACD meeting in collaboration with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (ICHTO), the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), and the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization (IIDO).

The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) was created in 2002 in an attempt to promote Asian cooperation at a continental level and to help integrate separate regional cooperation organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC).