MNA � The Director General of Tourism Planning and Development Affairs said that United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is ready to boost tourism cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking in an interview with IRNA on Monday, Alireza Rahimi pointed to the details of this plan and reiterated, �in order to compile National Tourism Development Plan, UNESCO is ready to continue its cooperation and interaction with the Islamic Republic of Iran.�

According to the talks made between Deputy Minister of Iran Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts and head of UNESCO Regional Office in Tehran through video conference, it was decided to continue joint cooperation for fulfilling project entitled �Compiling National Tourism Development Plan� in the current year, which had been halted due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.�

In this project, UNESCO will cooperate with international consultants and funders as well as United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to coordinate technical assistance.

For his part, UNESCO Regional Office in Iran Sutkowski termed bilateral cooperation and interaction for implementation of this plan �important� and expressed hope that bilateral cooperation will be continued like previous years in the field of deploying technical advisers of the project in Iran.

Under this comprehensive plan, it was agreed to compile strategies of development of tourism industry within the framework of development of product and marketing, manpower, tourism businesses, infrastructures, installations, services, investment, rules and regulations in the field of tourism, etc.