Iran, Saudi Arabia can expand scientific ties: Envoy

Hossein Sadeqi, who had a meeting with a group of students and professors of Sharif Industrial University in the office of the president of the university, elaborated on the general conditions of the Middle East and especially the Persian Gulf region from the political, economic, security and military balance points of the view.
He categorized Iran-Arab World relations after the Islamic Revolution into Iran-North African countries, Iran-the-Levant and Iran-Persian Gulf region states' ties.
'Today, almost all of the most influential countries in these three regions are engaged in internal insecurity and the only two influential countries that are still enjoying internal security are Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is why these two countries' policies for restoration of peace and security to the volatile Middle East region is of utmost importance today,' said Sadeqi.
The Iranian ambassador also said that the simplest way to harbinger a new chapter in Iranian-Saudi relations is to establish ties between the two countries' academic centers.
'Saudi Arabia sends a large number of its university students to the European and American universities each year so that they now have over 1,200,000 graduates from those universities in their country, most of whom have returned to their country,' he added.
Sadeqi attributed a big reason for Saudi graduates from foreign universities' return to their homeland as the very high salaries and bonuses they gain upon return.
After the Iranian ambassador, the head of Sharif University's Faculty of Physics, Sohrab Rhavar focused on the fields in which the Iranian and Saudi universities can work jointly.
'Highly equipped laboratories of the Saudi universities are great incentives for such cooperation,' he said.
Also the head of Sharif University's Water and Energy Studies Center Mahdi Allamalhoda proposed that the Iranian-Saudi scientific cooperation will be focused on desalination and new energies' fields.
At the end Abbas Maleki, the cultural affairs deputy of Sharif University said that the lenience and flexibility of the Iranian and Saudi academic centers seems to have paved the path for greater academic cooperation as a step towards greater bilateral proximity.