By IRNA,
Orumiyeh, West Azarbaijan prov : President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed on Thursday the great importance given to the issue of protecting environment in the Iranian culture.
Attending a special ceremony on the occasion of the National Tree Plantation Day (March 5), on the second day of his tour to this northwestern province, the president planted a sapling in the garden of the provincial governor’s office.
The president and his cabinet members arrived here Wednesday morning on a two-day provincial visit.
President Ahmadinejad is visiting the province on the second round of his provincial tours to follow up the implementation of the projects that had been approved during the first round of the cabinet’s provincial visits.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, the president said that protecting the environment and natural resources was a key part of the Iranian culture as “an undeniable” fact of their lives.
Meanwhile, Vice-President and head of the Department of Environment Fatemeh Vaez Javadi said on Thursday that Iran ranked third in the region for respecting the environmental protection principles.
Speaking on the same occasion in the provincial city of Mahabad, she said that the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) for 2008 has shown that Iran has raised its status from the fourth to the third place among 24 regional states.