MNA � The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology is planning to hold joint research projects with Italy�s National Research Council, a senior Iranian official said.

Abdolsadeh Neisy, the director-general for research and technology affairs at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, said on Sunday that plans are underway to boost the cooperation between Iran and Italy in science and research fields.

He added that �establishing a joint workgroup with CNR � which is the highest research council of Italy � is high on the agenda of the Iranian Science Ministry.�

The official noted that joint meetings have been held in this regard to explore the common interests of both sides.

According to Neisy, the upcoming meetings will be held, with the participation of a number of Iranian and Italian university professors to discuss their main concerns, including technology transfer as well as sharing research knowledge and expertise between the two countries� academia.

Iran and Italy have held longstanding ties in academic and scientific fields. The first edition of Iran�Italy Science, Technology and Innovation Forum was held in Tehran in 2017. The event covered a wide range of topics, discussions and a platform on boosting scientific, economic and cultural exchanges between Italy and Iran.

Iran has actively been seeking to scale the scope of its academic cooperation with foreign universities in areas including student exchange, fellowships for joint research projects as well as partnership between science and technology parks and knowledge-based firms.