The theme of this year's UN Day celebrations in Iran was the Millennium Development Goals.

The celebrations began with a week long poster/photo exhibition on the Millennium Development Goals at Tehran's famous House of Nations (Farhangsara-ye-Melal) in Gheytarieh Park. The event opened on Thursday 23 October with a press conference and a reception co-hosted by Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is estimated that over 2000 people attended the exhibition.

     

Other key events in the UN Day celebrations included:

• A bazaar jointly organized by UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and WFP to support women's groups from poor and vulnerable communities from various parts of Iran and to promote the third Millennium Development Goal: gender equality and empowerment of women. Women from as far as Zabol and Gilan showed off their basket weavings, traditional rugs and needlework, as well as farm-produce such as organically grown rice, honey and homemade olive oil.



• A seminar on poverty and the MDGs to commemorate the International Day for Poverty Eradication. The seminar was co-organized by UNDP and Iran's Management and Planning Organization to elicit input from UN agencies for the country's Fourth Five-Year Development Plan.