IranWest Asia

Velayati: Boosting academic cooperation with neighbors important

 

Senior Iranian official stressed the need for developing academic cooperation between Iran and Syria.

In a meeting with Syrian Deputy Science Minister Mohammad Maher Qabaqibi on Tuesday, Head of Founding Board of Islamic Azad University Ali Akbar Velayati said that Iran-Syria political, economic, defense and security relations started 40 years ago and are growing.

“Promoting defense, security, economic and political ties depends on relations among the elites and the scientific and cultural fields can strengthen the ties,” he said.

Hailing Iran’s scientific achievements following victory of the Islamic Revolution, he said that Iran ranks 16th in terms of science production in the world.

Velayati also stressed the need for enhancing ties with neighboring states in the field of higher education, saying, “I voiced Iran’s readiness for establishing branches of Islamic Azad University in Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia, which was welcomed.”

Syria boasts of a higher capacity in the field of higher education and if the war was not imposed on it, it could have made remarkable progress in the field, he said.

Syrian deputy science minister, for his part, called for promoting scientific and academic cooperation and signing memorandum of understanding to operationalize mutual collaboration.

Qabaqibi, also chancellor of University of Damascus, urged strengthening ties between the two countries in all fields, especially in the science and academic fields.

“Friendly and brotherly countries such as Iran have always been alongside us in all stages of the full-fledge war,” he said.

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