The 30th National Handicraft Exhibition opened in a ceremony on Saturday, attended by secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, among other senior officials.
It features crafts from 31 provinces displayed at more than 500 stalls put up over an area of 8,000 square meters in the Tehran International Fairground.
Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Ali Asghar Mounesan were also attending the opening ceremony of the largest national handicraft event, which is scheduled to run for seven days, CHTN reported.
The handicraft exposition is running alongside the Iran Handmade Carpet Exhibition for the first time.
In the past, handmade carpet weavers, traders and exporters used to hold their popular exhibition separately.
The wide-ranging artworks on exhibit include glassware, leatherwork, ornaments, woodcarving, marquetry, pottery, ceramics and rock art.
In his address to the ceremony, Shamkhani highlighted the potential of the cultural industries to spearhead the drive to promote the Resistance Economy.
"With some investment, the cultural industries can serve as the driving engine of the Resistance Economy to trigger growth in the employment, production and export sectors," he said.
Resistance Economy is a set of principles recommended by Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to boost domestic production, improve productivity and wean the country off oil revenues.
The handicrafts sector should be regarded as the symbol of the oil-independent economy because it has all it takes to help create a resilient economy, Shamkhani said.
"Handicrafts industry is a job-generating and cost-effective industry and part of our cultural infrastructures, national heritage and civilization and if given special attention, it can encourage the formation of new hubs for cultural-economic activity across the country, which would generate employment for the local populations."
