Iran launches cultural initiative in memory of Minab schoolchildren
Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Reza Salehi-Amiri said Monday that his ministry was converting institutional challenges into clearly defined projects to accelerate development, as officials in Tehran unveiled a nationwide cultural package honoring children killed in Minab.
Speaking at the ministry’s 41st Strategic Council meeting, Salehi-Amiri said each project must have a designated manager, funding and timetable to produce measurable results, while greater authority was being delegated to provincial governors, CHTN reported.
The project-based approach has become a central plank of the ministry’s drive to bring cultural heritage closer to public life, expand tourism infrastructure and tap private-sector investment and corporate social responsibility programs.
“An issue must be turned into a project,” Salehi-Amiri said. “Its manager, resources and implementation timetable must be clear so that we can assess what has been achieved.”
He said Iran’s provinces held 80 percent of the ministry’s potential, compared with 20 percent in Tehran, underscoring the need to give provincial authorities a stronger role in policymaking and implementation.
The ministry has also stepped up efforts to make cultural heritage a living part of daily life rather than simply an object of preservation. Salehi Amiri pointed to the long-awaited liberation of the historic Falak-ol-Aflak Castle in Khorramabad, saying the monument should become a recreational and cultural space for the public.
On tourism, he said 3,080 projects worth 1,300 trillion rials were under construction, including more than 550 hotels, accommodation facilities and eco-lodges. Iran, which previously had 60 five-star hotels, now has 65 more under construction, he said.
The meeting also featured the unveiling of the ‘Together for Iran’ cultural package, produced in memory of the children killed at Minab’s Shajareh Tayebeh School.
The initiative, backed through Bank Melli Iran’s corporate social responsibility program, includes notebooks containing 168 pages dedicated to the memory of the Minab victims and will be distributed nationwide.
Salehi-Amiri called for broader participation by banks and economic institutions, saying the initiative should help preserve the memory of the Minab children while supporting the development of the southern county’s infrastructure.
He said Minab’s tourism potential could not be fully realized without stronger transport, accommodation and other facilities, urging economic institutions to help fund projects ranging from tourism infrastructure to schools, health centers, roads and employment.
This is the beginning of a path,” Salehi-Amiri said, calling for the participation of the country’s wider economic sector.