The first online Persian language course for diplomats living in Iran officially began on Saturday, September 25, 2021 with the cooperation of ECO Cultural Institute and Saadi Foundation with the message from Sarvar Bakhti, president of the ECO Cultural Institute, and Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, head of the Saadi Foundation.
According to the ECO Cultural Institute, Sarvar Bakhti, during his speech at this virtual ceremony, while appreciating the sincere support of Dr. Haddad Adel, head of the Saadi Foundation in launching the first Persian language course for diplomats residing in Iran, said: "One of the missions of the ECO Cultural Institute is to preserve and expand the common languages of the ECO region and to strengthen cultural and literary interactions."
"ECO Cultural Institute has developed a comprehensive teaching language plan covering all languages of the ECO region", he added.
Elucidating the role of Persian language throughout history, Sarvar Bakhti said: "Persian is one of the important languages in the ECO region. It is the language of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan and is spoken by many people in Pakistan and India. The language has a rich history and once it was spoken in a vast territory covering from the Mediterranean to Sindh and from Mesopotamia to Oxus. Of course, the Persian language was not limited to the subcontinent and had a significant presence in other parts of the world. According to Moroccan scholar and explorer, Ibn Battuta`s chronicles, it was the language of commerce along the Silk Road and was widely used in the Caucasus."
At the end of his speech, president of the ECO Cultural Institute addressed the participants saying: "Due to your mission, you will been living in the beautiful country of Iran for three or four years and learning Persian will allow you to enjoy your job, leisure and travel."
Dr. Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, head of the Saadi Foundation, also in his opening remarks at the ceremony, stated: "We are grateful to the ECO Cultural Institute for close cooperation with the Saadi Foundation to organize the course."
Head of the Saadi Foundation also added: "Through mutual cooperation, we hope to hold special training courses in other fields of study with different educational goals through well-designed Persian language learning programs,."
Indicating the educational goals of the Saadi Foundation for teaching and developing the system of learning and teaching Persian language and literature in the world, similar to other foundations such as Goethe in Germany, Alliance française in France, Cervantes Institute in Spain, Confusius in China and Yunus emre in Turkey, he added: "All teachers of Saadi Foundation are Persian Education Standard Reference (PTSR) certified teaching course books published in the international journal Azfa belonging to Saadi Foundation".
Addressing the participants in the first online Persian language course, head of the Saadi Foundation said: "Our goal is to offer the most useful teaching methods in a fun climate to satisfy your educational needs."
He concluded his speech saying: "Facilities are also provided at the Saadi Foundation for face-to-face courses after the COVID-19 Pandemic for all those interested in learning Persian."