The message of Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif was delivered by Director General of the Ministry’s Africa Department Valiyollah Mohammadi for a large audience including youth who had gathered at the cultural centre hours before the beginning of the ceremony. Zarif said “Mandela attracted hearts and minds of human generations to himself”.

Other speakers of the ceremony were: Head of Public Relations and International Affairs Department of Culture and Art Organization of Tehran Municipality Mr. Amir Hossein Tabejamaat, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Hossein Amir-Abodllahian, Head of Culture and Art Organization of Tehran Municipality Mr. Amir Khorakian, Ambassador of South Africa in Tehran Mr. WMP Whitehead and Head of Islamic Centre of South Africa Hojjatoleslam Seyed Abdollah Hosseini.

UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Gary Lewis read excerpts from the SG’s message on Nelson Mandela Internatinal Day and delivered his own speech. Also, an exhibition of some 30 photographs of Mr. Mandela, some of them from the booklet, was on display at the cultural centre. Tehran Municipality had displayed big banners about the ceremony in different parts of Tehran.