The opening ceremony of The Fourth Assembly of Iranian and Arab Universities was held in the presence of Dr. Hossein Salar Amoli, Deputy for Minister of Science, Research and Technology in International Affairs, Prof. Kafi, President of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Representative of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and a group of presidents of Iranian and Arab universities on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad..
Dr. Muhammad Fneish, Minister of Youth and Sports of Lebanon, Dr. Mohammad Maher Qabaghibi, Representative of Syrian universities, Dr. Jalal Jumah, Representative of Lebanese universities, Dr. Mohsen Abed Mohsen, Representative of Iraqi universities, Dr. Taghi Abdavani, Representative of Oman universities and a group of presidents of Iranian and Arab universities attended this event and delivered speeches..
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Ehsan Ghabool welcomed Dr. Muhammad Fneish, Minister of Youth and Sports of Lebanon, and Dr. Hossein Salar Amoli, Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Technology in International Affairs, and all the presidents of Iranian and Arab universities. He introduced futurism in the development of the Islamic world as the main theme of the meeting and referred to the special position of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. He noted that 20 Iranian universities and 11 Arab universities, including the universities of Oman, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, participated in the meeting and through 35 lectures of this conference, common issues of the Islamic world will be addressed. As a liaison, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is ready to expand relations between Iran and the Arab world with more than 1,000 Arab students. He stated that the goals of this meeting are to establish relations among the students and professors of this conference and also to hold summer courses in the coming year in the universities which are members of the conference. In the end, he thanked Prof. Mohammad Kafi, President of Ferdowsi University and the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, and staff of the International Students Office for holding this meeting..
Then, after welcoming the guests and presidents of Iranian and Arab universities, Prof. Mohammad Kafi, President of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad expressed his satisfaction that Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is hosting scholars and scientific elites from all over Islamic countries. Referring to scientific diplomacy and the obstacles in this area, he considered science as a world heritage and noted that the obstacles can be removed with more cooperation due to our many cultural, religious and historical commonalities with countries in the region. The President of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad expressed his hope that this meeting will be expanded so that its name as conference of Iranian and Arab is changed and neighboring countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, Afghanistan, etc. are also able to attend this meeting and we observe the achievement of its goals. In the end, Prof. Kafi thanked and appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, as well as the colleagues at the International Academic Relations Department of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for holding this meeting in a worthy manner..
Dr. Hossein Salar Amoli, Vice-President for Minister of Science, Research and Technology in International Affairs, thanked Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for holding this meeting and delivered a lecture on three aspects to be addresses for achieving the appropriate scientific position. As the first aspect, he expressed putting science and technology at the service of the society through which we need to stand on the circle of global knowledge to become globalized. Referring to the process of scientific development in the field of satellite design, Dr. Salar Amoli expressed science and technology parks as the increasing development in scientific articles. He also mentioned the number of foreign students studying in Iran as 4891 students from different countries. Referring to Iran's 16th rank in the world in terms of science, he considered creating joint branches and courses, sending professors and also exchanging professors as effective steps to achieve the goals of Islamic universities through which the science and technology paradigm is of particular importance..
Following the meeting, Dr. Muhammad Fneish, Minister of Youth and Sports of Lebanon, thanked Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for holding the meeting emphasizing the expansion of relations between the Arab world and Iran and pointing to Iran's significant growth in nanotechnology and emphasizing cultural commonalities, becoming equipped with science weapons, and stated that in order to achieve this goal, there must be more cooperation among the elites of the Islamic countries..
Following the meeting, Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Imanipour, Senior Assistant to the President of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization gave a speech. Considering the expansion of scientific diplomacy, he expressed it as a step towards improvement in the international arena and expressed his hope that this meeting could achieve its goals..
At this meeting, the presidents of the universities of Iraq, Syria, Oman and Lebanon gave speeches and introduced the strategic plans of their universities, as well as calling for scientific diplomacy and further interaction between the universities of the Islamic world, considering the cultural, religious and lingual commonalities between Iran and the Arab world. Also, the presidents of Gilan University, Kharazmi University of Tehran, University of Religions and Denominations, University of Islamic Religions, Al-Zahra University of Tehran, Allameh Tabataba’i University and Neishabour University attended the meeting and presented their suggestions on the subject..
As a side event, guests visited the Museum of Documents and Honors of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
In this assembly, 20 lecturers from Iranian and Arab universities gave speeches.