"We want to bring more tourists to Oshnavieh and [Friday] all guests will have a tour around the city. Second, we want to attract investors so the city's main products, cherries and apples, can be packaged better and exported to other countries,” Dilshad Ismail, one of the organizers, told Rudaw English.
The governor and municipality of the city have sponsored the festival while several local environmental and cultural NGOs in Oshnavieh cooperated to organize the event. Iranian MPs and officials from the agriculture department are among the guests.
"Beside business goals, we want to promote awareness for environmental protection and introduce the culture of Oshnavieh," Ismail added.
Booths at the festival highlight local agriculture, culture, traditions, and the environment as well as offering hand-made products for sale.
Oshnavieh in West Azerbaijan province is famous for its cherry orchards.
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“The agriculture and tourists sectors are those sectors that have potential to develop a lot. Of course we need more investment to develop these sectors and hopefully such events attract investors,” Abdulkarim Hosseinzadeh, an MP for the cities of Oshnavieh and Naghadeh, told Rudaw.
Cherry producers in Oshnavieh complain that distributors profit more than them. Buyers in Oshnaviev pay producers about $1.80 per kilogram while they are sold in Tehran and other big cities for $5.80.
