Iran Enviro Exhibition

Dr. Jahangiri, the current first VP, was the Minister of Industry and Mines during President Khatami when he agreed to outphase and stop the production of Peykan the popular, but polluting Iranian car in 2002. That measure was a milestone in Iran's surge to upgrade its car production and compete in global markets. I mentioned that point yesterday in the inaugural ceremony of the 13th Iran Enviro Exhibition in Tehran. Dr. Jahangiri and the Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia Mr. Hartounian were our special guests. The Ambassador of Italy also spoke on the readiness of Italian companies to work in Iran on environmental technologies. The strategy of promoting the green economy was embraced by Dr. Rouhani during his election campaign and we have taken several important steps in the DOE pursuant to that strategy including the revival of the "Environment Fund of Iran", incorporating important environmental policies in the budget, and convening the exhibition with the theme of green economy. We started late but the event was well received by both private sector and government sectors, NGOs also had a pavilion and were very visible.I spent over 6 hours in the exhibition visiting the booths and talking with people about what they had done for the environment. Corporations were active in fields like recycling, renewable energies, water and wastewater treatment technologies, education and advocacy. Many Iranians now consider the environment as a priority and this is an opportunity for the nation.

A visit to Iraq

Normalcy has returned to Baghdad in some districts, while in many others tight security measures and fear from terrorist attacks has disrupted normal life. The unsettling scenes we saw in Iraq were the remnants of decades long dictatorship and the terrible "awe and fear" operations of Mr. Bush. 

Heading a delegation from the Iranian DOE and invited by the Iraqi Minister of Environment , we visited Iraq last week. We met with high level officials including, The Prime Minister, Parliament Speaker Vice President, Foreign Minister, UNAMI Representative and Minister of Womens Affairs.

 After initial negotiations on environmental priorities, we came up with a joint implementation plan consisting of items related to education and training, monitoring and mitigation of dust storms, and international cooperation. We also decided to create three transboundary national parks to protect our common biodiversity on the borders. Our Iraqi hosts were very kind and while many, among them top officials, had lived in Iran for long times during Saddam's rule, they spoke Arabic ,Farsi and since one member of the delegation spoke Kurdish, we had a diversity of languages and cultures during meetings. Prime Minister Nouri Maleki emphasised on the importance of environmental cooperation and mentioned the resolve of his government to collaborate and to implement projects to control hot spots initiating dust storms. We also planted trees along a street in Karbala. The pilgrmage to visit four Imams ie. Imam Ali,Imam Hussein, Imam Musa Kazem and Imam Javad was inspiring. Since it was the first chance for all of us, we enjoyed this part of the trip as well. Security was very tight in all our visits and our Ambassador Mr. Danaeifar did a great job to make this visit beneficial in promoting bilateral relations

Energy Globe Lifetime Achievement Award

http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/113750-irans-environment-chief-wins-energy-globe-award-

My Speech at Friday Prayers

I was invited to deliver a speech on the occasion of the Clean Air Day at the Friday Prayer ceremony in Tehran. Friday Prayers are an important aspect of religious and political life in Iran, since sermons are devoted to contemporary issues and Friday Leaders provide analysis and insight into national and international developments. In the final hours on Wednesday, they informed me that my speech was not possible . Speculation on why I was first invited  and then banned from speaking filled the press 

http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/iranian-female-politicians-speech-at-friday-prayers-is-cancelled. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/01/17/iranian-female-politician-has-her-prayer-sermon-speech-mysteriously-canceled/

I published my full speech a day later.

Tree planting with Christians in Iran

The Ararat Club is a large sports and cultural foundation dating to over 7 decades ago. Armenians who  founded the Club in Tehran, manged to allocate an excellent location several years later. Armenians are the major Christian minority residing for centuries in Iran. On the occaision of Christmas and the New Year I was invited last week, to plant a tree and speak at the Club . Hundreds had attended.    We planted the tree in the campus and went back to the hall for the ceremony. "We are planting a tree of peace and friendship for the world, as opposed to enmity and hatred, we hope for peace with nature in 2014 as well." I said in my speech. I continued, "For centuries Christians and other minorities have lived in peace and frienship in Iran and I hope those ties of friendship will remain for ever."

Greening of Diplomatic Relations between Iran and Italy

I met with Emma Bonino, the Italian Foreign Minister in Tehran on Saturday.She came to the DOE only minutes affter arriving at Mehrabad Airport . Nineteen journalists and members of the press accompanied her in this important visit to Iran. The first part of our talks focused on bilateral relations and changes that are anticipated to occur after the election of Dr.Rouhani and the new round of 5+1 talks on the nuclear issue. Ms. Bonino stressed upon her government's resolve to enhance relations with Iran despite the pressures from radicals and "nervous people" as she put it. We also spoke about how important this trend is for global peace and security. The adoption of the WAVE Resoution in the UNGA is a significant milestone after the Dialogue Among Civilization Resolution of 2001, I noted. Then, I mentioned the important policies we pursue in Iran to improve the quality of life and how sanctions have impeded that trend and now how bilateral relations could enable Iran to move ahead in this area. Wetland management including Lake Urumieh, Hamoon International Wetland and others, the Dust/Haze phenomena and green technologies were all discussed in the meeting. We decided to finalize an MOU on these matters as soon as possible. I told her the first phase of your visit consisted of the greening of bilateral relations between Iran and Italy, which I hope will benefit both nations as well as the global environment. 

We then took her to visit our Biodiversity Museum in the Pardisan Park . A brief news conference concluded the 1/30 hour visit.  I also gave her my book "Natural Peace", which is a compilation of speeches I had in my first term as Vice President.

Warsaw and Geneva ,two Venues for Global Peace

I attended the COP19 conference on climate change in Warsaw last week. The global community has sensed an urgency in the matter, but little action has been taken to reverse the devastating trend of the warming of the earth's atmosphere and the ensuing extreme weather events , drought, rising sea levels and immense social and economic losses incurred upon societies. In Warsaw, global powers that are responsible for the major part of the green house gases produced during the industrial era were not ready to accept their historical responsibilities and developing countries, many who are still grappling with abject poverty in their societies, were not ready to undergo quotas to reduce their GGHs drastically, when the major part of the industrialized world including the US never acceeded to the Kyoto protocol. The EU initially pushed to impose their version on the rest of the world but they faced a strong group of like minded developing countries who threatened to leave the conference if consensus was not achieved based on common understanding. In the end, a neogiated text was agreed upon in the final moments, to save the negotiation process. During my stay in Warsaw, I was invited to speak about the role of women in promoting global peace at the European Academy of Diplomacy, I also delivered my country speech at the opening of the high level session on the first day. A press conference with Polish journalists, a speech at PISM a Polish peace research institute on the Internal and External Evolution of https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=1429fa1502b42547&attid=0.1&disp=attd&safe=1&zw and a long working dinner with the Polish foreign minister were also on my agenda. Since the sensitive 5+1 negotiations with Iran were underway then in Geneva, they overshadowed our talks in Warsaw. I had the chnace to speak with the President of Poland at his reception and along with the Iranian delegation we had a lengthly meeting Mr.Ban Ki Moon, the UNSG. In that meeting, I told him I tweeted last night : Planet earth pleads us tonight: Give the world a chance for peace in Geneva , give the global environment a chance in Warsaw. He liked the tweet but sarcastically also noted that it was similar to what he had said a few weeks ago : Give diplomacy a chance in Syria! The success of the 5+1 and Iran negotiations in Geneva was a great achievement for peace and multilateralism, as opposed to the violence and conflict prone policies in today's world. This success proves that even the most difficult and apparently insurmountable obstacles can be overcome with patience and dialogue.https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/s/?view=att&th=1429fa1502b42547&attid=0.1&disp=attd&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P-en6RqDALqBdRUe3mK1csg&sadet=1385872288279&sads=TvPHgoxBnrX1FI_wImmXINOyNOQ