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Tehran to host global Nowruz summit with ministers from 18 countries
The three-day meeting will take place at Tehran’s Summit Hall and feature ministerial addresses alongside remarks, said Hojjatollah Ayoubi, the minister’s senior adviser and head of the ministry’s international affairs center, IRNA reported.
He said Iran has invited 27 ministers in total, with five additional countries participating as observers under the framework of the Economic Cooperation Organization.
Ayoubi identified Russia, India, China, Indonesia and the Shanghai-based ECO constituency as observer participants, adding that the event marks the first successful staging of the Nowruz summit after failed attempts in previous years.
He credited close coordination with the foreign ministry for clearing diplomatic and logistical hurdles.
He stressed that the gathering is not designed as a public Nowruz celebration but as a formal international summit, with its final communiqué intended to convey a political and security message that Iran is a safe country operating under stable conditions.
The agenda prioritizes network-building among Nowruz-linked nations rather than large-scale public spectacles, he said, positioning Iran as the festival’s central axis.
The program will include limited cultural performances, including appearances by an international Nowruz Symphony ensemble, alongside official speeches, according to Ayoubi.
Deputy Tourism Minister Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpey said China and India will attend as special guests, underscoring their demographic and cultural weight in Nowruz-related diplomacy.
He said a permanent Nowruz summit secretariat will be established in Tehran and supported by newly formed committees covering cultural affairs, accommodation, security, finance, taxation and media outreach.
Mohseni Bandpey said enhanced cultural diplomacy, backed by the foreign ministry, helped lift inbound foreign tourist arrivals by 48.5% year on year in the Iranian month ending April 20, 2025. He added that a national travel coordination task force involving 27 state bodies is overseeing monitoring and services during the peak holiday season from March 16 to April 4.