Addressing a ceremony to award an honorary PhD degree to Iraqi Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Naeem Al-Aboudi, Rahim-Safavi said that the presence of the Iraqi minister in Iran is a golden opportunity and a great honor for the development of scientific and research relations and the exchange of professors and students between Iraq and Iran.
Considering the great human capital, historical, cultural, and oil reserves, agriculture and holy shrines, and religious figures, and the capacity of Arbaeen ritual, the independent Iraqi government and nation can become the most influential country in the Arab world, he added.
He noted that Iraq and Iran are geopolitical, geostrategic, geoeconomic, and geocultural complements.
He said some 80 Iranian universities are accredited for the education of respected Iraqi students, adding that more than 80,000 Iraqi male and female students are studying in Iranian universities.
Iraq is the center of scientific talent in the Arab world, he said, stressing that Iraq can become a center of the resistance movement for the independence and authority of Iraq and help the oppressed Palestinian nation in Gaza and the freedom of Holy Quds.
President of Imam Hossein University General Mohammad Reza Hassani Ahangar and a group of faculty members and professors of the Iranian university also attended the ceremony.
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