Georgian diplomat terms TIBF a major cultural event

1394/02/22-18:12

First cultural counselor in Georgia’s embassy in Tehran says Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) serves as a major cultural event.

Mamuka Kurasbediani made the remarks in an interview with the TIBF’s press office while inspecting the international cultural event.

The Georgian diplomat cited participation of numerous domestic and foreign publishers and the huge public welcome to the book fair as strong features of the cultural event.

The counselor acknowledged that fewer other book fairs may receive the huge welcome, adding the avid public participation shows how the Iranian people are interested in book reading.

Asked about the Georgian embassy’s programs for the promotion of Persian language in Georgia, the diplomat said Persian has been taught in his country’s universities for the past 70 years, adding Persian language is a favorite academic course of study.

The counselor lauded the existing levels of academic exchanges between the two nations as favorable, adding the two nations have had relations since four centuries ago.

Many Persian masterpieces, the diplomat said, have been translated into Georgian, namely Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Khayyam quatrains, Hafiz divan, and Roudaki’s poems.

Kurasbediani regretted that few Georgian works had been translated into Persian, adding however that the Georgian embassy in Tehran has engaged in schemes to promote the Georgian language and culture in Iran.

Nevertheless, the diplomat singled out a Georgian masterpiece translated into Persian, titled ‘the Knight in the Panther's Skin’ authored by renowned Georgian poet in the 12th-13th-century, Shota Rustaveli.

The diplomat drew a parallel between the content of the Georgian masterpiece and that of Shahnameh, adding Georgians consider the book as Shahnameh of Georgia.

The 28^th Tehran International Book Fair started work in Tehran on May 6 under the motto of ‘reading as talking to the world.’ It runs until May 16.