The following is the full text of the speech delivered on March 27, 2010 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with presidents participating in Norouz Festival.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I would like to welcome the honorable presidents, representatives of different countries and all the brothers who are present in the meeting. Wishing a happy Eid to all of you.
You dear friends, good brothers and neighbors chose a very good occasion for holding a congress and exchanging viewpoints about different matters. Eid-e Norouz is an eastern Eid and it enjoys outstanding and unique values. In fact, Eid-e Norouz is a symbol. It is a symbol of innovation, freshness, youth and enthusiasm. It is also a symbol of showing affection and kindness towards one another, visiting one's brothers, showing one's kindness to family members, strengthening friendship and geniality between friends and relatives and eliminating grudges. This is because spring is the manifestation of freshness and enthusiasm. All these things exist in spring. And this is a privilege for our peoples who have chosen Norouz as the beginning of their new year and the origin of history. This is because it includes these characteristics.
This is a national celebration. It is not among the religious Eids, but Norouz has been approved and accepted by great personalities in our holy sharia. We have many narrations which praise and commemorate Norouz. This has turned Norouz into an instrument for worshiping God and expressing our humility before Him. In fact, it is an opportunity for people to freshen their hearts with remembrance of God.
There is a custom in our country. It is many years now that on Norouz Eid and during the hour of transition to the new year, the people gather in places of worship, holy shrines and spiritual centers and ask Allah the Exalted to bring them good and blessings and to bestow a good year on themselves and others. Therefore, Norouz is a very valuable and outstanding occasion - in terms of its spiritual, national and international significance - for those peoples who commemorate it.
This year, Norouz was recognized as an international celebration. The advantage of this was and is that it is a kind of gift from our peoples to western peoples and peoples throughout the world. It transfers this culture to them. Unfortunately, cultural borrowing is normally the other way around. They have gotten used to exporting their cultures to our countries and other eastern countries. However, the east is full of lofty cultural values. So, it is much better if we can export them and give them to the world as gifts. Eastern nations have had many outstanding and unique values throughout their histories. Therefore, the opportunity to give them to peoples throughout the world as gifts should be created and this is one of those opportunities.
We also express our gratitude for this congress that has been organized by our dear friends and good brothers in Tehran - by the honorable administration and our esteemed President, Dr. Ahmadinejad - because it is a means to help regional governments and peoples get closer to one another. Unfortunately today, some great powers are trying to create a crisis among nations. They create a crisis among peoples and they pit brothers against one another. They pretend that the interests of these peoples lie in their confrontation against each other, but the truth is something else. The truth is that not only do the interests of nations not lie in their confrontation against one another, but also they help and complete one another. We can stay together, help each other and form a valuable and lofty cultural group which enjoys international power. By Allah's favor, your gathering in the present time and its continuation in future years will strengthen this as well.
We welcome the idea of strengthening relations between those regional and neighboring countries that have a common culture and we will help to promote it as well. If each of the countries to the east, west, north and south of Iran is strengthened, we feel that it is to our advantage. If any of them can exhibit an outstanding character in the great events and confrontations that exist in the world, we will feel proud and happy and we will help them as well. I hope that Allah the Exalted will help all of us as well.
I pray for all the dear brothers in the meeting and I ask Allah the Exalted to increase the dignity of Islamic and regional countries on a daily basis, to make our hearts kind to one another and to help us join hands so that we can accomplish great feats.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings