Madame co Chairman, Let me join others in congratulating the both co chairs for your election as the Chair of Twelfth Session of the Forum on Minority which is focusing on Education, Language and the Human Rights of Minorities. I am pleased to have the opportunity to share a few thoughts with you on this occasion. Madame Co president 1) we are proud to be a nation of multi- cultural and multi linguistic character. Our ethnic and linguistic communities across the country build a very diverse but cohesive mosaic named Iran. The richness and depth of Iranian culture and its old history are beholden to the interactions and integration of its diverse cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic communities. We are proud that our Supreme Leader is Azeri speaking coming originally from north westof Iran; the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council is an Arab speaking man coming from Khuzestan province; and there are Ministers and high level judicial officials who are coming from almost all our ethnic and linguistic communities, Azeri, Kurds, Baluchi, Lors, etc 2) The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply appreciates this aspect of our demographic characteristic as an invaluable asset and spares no effort in maintaining and further strengthening this feature. 3) Safeguarding our ethnic communities’ languages, even their various rich and beautiful dialects, is of tremendous importance. We value ethnic languages and dialects as essential ingredients of Iran’s overall social, cultural and even political fabric. That’s why the Government is under a duty in accordance with the Constitution to make every effort to preserve various languages spoken within Iran as part of our national identity. 4) According to Article 15 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution, use of regional and ethnic languages in the