Tehran (IP) – President of ECO Cultural Institute said universities should design and present mechanisms that effectively solve the production, industrial, economic, social, and cultural problems of societies to play their role toward attaining sustainable development.

Iran Press/Iran News: Referring to the main purpose of education, Sarvar Bakhti stated that by raising the level of knowledge, investigation, and ethics in individuals and increasing the sense of responsibility in the society, universities should be recognized and reflected as a model of sustainability and balanced development in the society.

He noted that familiarity of different nations with varieties of knowledge, thoughts, and ideas leads to their cultural enhancement and brings cultures closer. "The ECO countries have more cultural compatibility with each other due to sharing common cultural elements."

"There is no doubt about the need for economic cooperation, but the advantage of ECO member countries is that they share culture, art, and history of several thousand years, so, the ECO Cultural Institute was established to strengthen and promote close cooperation and partnership between the people of the region," she pointed.

Bakhti added that the ECO Cultural Institute had always aimed to provide a suitable platform for holding programs focusing on promoting culture and sustainable development of the region's people.

He said that the ECO Cultural Institute has been able to introduce the common heritage of the region, educate researchers in various cultural and artistic fields, and exchange experiences of scientists in member countries in academic fields.

Bakhti stressed that this international organization considered its mission to support universities as carriers of human knowledge and preserve cultural heritage and provide the ground for promoting such institutions whose goals and services meet the spiritual needs and excellence of human beings.

"Hence, the ECO Cultural Institute had put on the agenda the promotion of cooperation between the universities of the ECO region, and today, the symposium is an indication of such an effort," he emphasized.

ECO Cultural Institute welcomes the initiatives of this meeting to promote cooperation between universities of ECO member countries and expresses preparedness to provide a suitable platform for various activities, including education, scholarships, workshops, short and long term courses, exchange of experiences, expertise, and information in various cultural fields, joint research projects, exchange of professors and students, joint projects in various fields such as restoration of historical monuments and manuscripts, holding exhibitions and cultural weeks, traditional music and other related fields, said the president of ECO Cultural Institute.

The 1st Symposium of Rectors of ECO Member State Universities was held at Allameh Tabataba`i University on March 4, via videoconferencing with 10 ECO university member states in attendance.

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