Raisi arrived in Golestan province early on Thursday morning through Gorgan Martyrs International Airport and was welcomed by the Leader’s representative in the province, the governor and a group of other provincial officials at the airport.

During his two-day trip, the president visited some water, energy, industrial, infrastructure and construction projects, met and held talks with different classes of people and communities, and participated in an administrative council.

The accompanying ministers also paid visits to various cities of the province to get in touch with people and meet with provincial officials to discuss problems and issues.

In this regard, Education Minister visited Azadshahr and Ramiyan, the Economy Minister visited Aqqala and Bandargaz, the Minister of Interior went to Maraveh Tapeh, Kalaleh and Gorgan, the Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education visited Gorgan, Aliabad Katol and Galikesh, the Minister of Sports and Youth traveled to Kordkoi, Bandar Torkaman and Gonbad Kavos, Kurdkoi and Ramian, Minister of Transport and Urban Development was in Gorgan, and Oil Minister in Aqqala.

This was President Raisi’s second visit to the province since the beginning of his administration.

In his first visit, Raisi allocated 120 trillion rials (about $240 million) for various development projects in the province, of which so far 43 trillion rials (about $86 million), equivalent to 41 percent, have been realized, and with the President’s second visit to Golestan, new credits were allocated to accelerate the implementation of the projects approved in the first visit.

Inaugurating a 600-bed hospital, several water supply projects, and a project for dredging of Gorgan Bay were among the major projects inaugurated during president Raisi’s visit to Gorgan.

EF/MA

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The festival came to an end after showcasing four captivating folk music performances of different styles, IRNA reported on Friday.

For a span of three days at the city’s Varna venue, various musical groups hailing from the provinces of Golestan, Tehran, Mazandaran, Qazvin, North Khorasan, and Alborz entertained the crowd with their distinctive folk and local music in a non-competitive festival, the report added.

Although the festival was traditionally held annually in Kerman, southern Iran, last year the organizers decided to move it to Gorgan, reportedly due to a lack of technical infrastructure at the central hall of the city that was supposed to accommodate the participating musicians.

During the closing ceremony of the previous edition of the festival, officials from the Golestan province declared their readiness to permanently host the festival in the northern region.

The 15th festival concluded with the introduction of the Lotfi Medal by the organizers.

The medal is named after Mohammadreza Lotfi, the late master of stringed Iranian instruments and composer, who worked with great musicians such as vocalist Mohammadreza Shajarian.

The decoration will be awarded biennially to musicians with outstanding works.

In the previous year, the festival welcomed four musical groups from Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan alongside various ensembles originating from diverse regions of Iran.

Photo: An Iranian group performs during the closing ceremony of the 16th Iran’s Regional Music Festival at Varna Hall in Gonbad-e Kavus, on June 29, 2023.

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Insufficient intake of water and irregular exploitation of the wetlands are now threatening these valuable biodiversity reserves.

Covering an area of 3,000 hectares, Almagol and Ajigol are seasonally-filled freshwater lakes, fed by autumn and winter rains, which become desiccated in drought periods. Alagol is slightly saline and fringed by extensive reed and grass marshes.

Almagol is sparsely vegetated. There are several human settlements. The site supports Anatidae (ducks, geese, swans, etc.), flamingos, and nesting White-tailed Plover.

Placed on the Montreux Record in 1993 due to high levels of disturbance from wildfowl hunters and the extraction of water for irrigation purposes, which has lowered lake levels considerably, especially during summer.

Recent rainfalls have eased the water shortage problem in the Caspian Sea province, however, wetlands have lost a lion’s share of their beauty and significance.

Wetlands are ecosystems saturated with water, either seasonally or permanently. They store water and ensure its quality, providing resilience against drought. They play a central role in sustainable development by supplying all our freshwater. More than 40 percent of freshwater fish are said to live in wetlands.

Wetlands play a major role in protecting the land against floods and the impacts of storms. They provide food and diverse habitats which support genetic, species, and ecosystem biodiversity. Wetlands play a key role in the life cycles of many species and in annual migration patterns.

Iran is rich in terms of having a variety of wetlands due to its climatic diversity. In Iran, 141 wetlands with ecological value with an area of over 3 million hectares have been identified, of which 25 wetlands are designated as wetlands of international importance (registered in the Ramsar Convention) covering more than 1.4 million hectares and four sites are biosphere reserves.

Of Iran’s 25 Ramsar sites about one-third are under pressure or in critical condition.

Unfortunately, wetlands are being degraded and lost due to pollution, overexploitation, climate change, and human population growth.

Concurrent with the adoption of the Ramsar Convention, World Wetlands Day was designated on February 22, emphasizing the importance of the wetlands and sustainable use of these valuable ecosystems.

The theme for this year’s World Wetlands Day is ‘Wetlands Action for People and Nature’. It aims to highlight the importance of actions to conserve and sustain wetlands.

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Speaking to reporters in Gorgan, the provincial capital, on Sunday, Hadi Hashemian said the members of the money laundering network, which had a turnover of some 300 trillion rials over the past six years, have been identified and arrested.

The gang included 3 ringleaders and 6 accomplices, all of whom were arrested, he said, adding that 300 other members of the network have been doing fraudulent activities in the provinces of Golestan, Tehran, and Semnan.

More than 100 light and heavy vehicles of this money laundering network and 20 kilograms of gold bars have been discovered and seized from the ring so far, the official stated.

He went on to say that investigation into the case will continue as efforts are underway to identify the defendants’ properties.

Back in January, the Intelligence Ministry forces in the province of Qazvin arrested 12 members of a network on charges of disrupting the country’s currency market, smuggling currency through illegal trades, tax evasion and money laundering.

The network had been doing fraudulent activities in the provinces of Qazvin, Tehran and Mazandaran. Its ringleader was also detained before fleeing the country.

In another operation, the Intelligence Ministry forces captured 13 individuals in the province of East Azarbaijan for disrupting the country’s currency market. A number of them were arrested before crossing the border with fake ID cards.

The network received subsidized foreign currency with business certificates of sham companies.

Also in December 2018, the Intelligence Ministry arrested members of another major network that had swindled the country’s banks out of millions of euros by infiltrating into the banking system.

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Iranian merchants exported over 321,000 tons of goods worth some $221.72 million from the northern Golestan province during the past 10 months through January 20, a senior official at the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Customs Administration said.

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A collection of photo paintings by Kaveh Golestan, Iranian photojournalist, is on display at Tate Modern Museum of London.
The museum will show 20 vintage prints of Golestan’s photos, shot between the years 1975-1977, portraying the darker side of society, Honaronline reported.
Born in Tehran, 1950, Kaveh Golestan, is the son of filmmaker and writer Ebrahim Golestan.
Kaveh was a pioneer of documentary photography. His photographic practice has hugely influenced the work of future generations of Iranian artists.
He has documented major historical events, including the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf Wars (1990-1991).
His life was cut short in 2003 when he stepped on a landmine in Iraq.
The photos are to remain on display at the venue for about a year.

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