Mehriban Aliyeva meets Vatican's Culture Minister
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan's First Lady, Mehriban Aliyeva met with Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Vatican’s Minister of Culture, during her visit to the Vatican on March 5.
The minister hailed Aliyeva’s role in expanding bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the Vatican.
Ravasi lauded the humanitarian and cultural projects implemented between the two countries.
He noted the first lady’s role toward the restoration and digitization of Roman catacombs as well as some rare manuscripts of the Vatican Apostolic Library, and implementation of other projects as an “important historic step of Muslim Azerbaijan.”
The Vatican hails Azerbaijan's culture of tolerance and the
country’s contribution toward intercultural dialogue, the minister
added.
Mehriban Aliyeva said Azerbaijan attached great importance to the
development of bilateral relations with the Vatican, and stressed
the Heydar Aliyev Foundation would continue to participate in
projects connected with the Vatican.
She said the projects had special value for not only the Christian
world, but also for the whole of humanity.
The first lady invited Gianfranco Ravasi to the first European
Games to be held in Baku on June 12-28.
The Heydar Aliyev Foundation is carrying out works towards preserving cultural legacy both in Azerbaijan and abroad, as well as the promotion and popularization of cultural relations and improvement of education opportunities for the youth.
In the Vatican, the Foundation supports restoration work at the mausoleum of St. Helena and the Roman catacombs.
The contribution of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation acting in a Muslim country in art and spiritual values of the Christian world is the first event in the history of Rome, and it is connected with the historical role of Azerbaijan in the dialogue between religions and cultures.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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