.jpg "Mohammad-Ali Najafi in an undated photo")
TEHRAN -- The tragedy of frequent management turnover still persists at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization as a number of Persian media outlets announced on Wednesday that Mohammad-Ali Najafi’s has offered his resignation from the organization.
In his letter of resignation, Najafi has asked President Rouhani to employ him in posts with lower levels of stress due to his heart problems, the Persian service of CHN reported, quoting an anonymous informed source.
So far, the presidential office has made no comment about the resignation.
Appointing Najafi to the CHTHO in August brought fresh hope to among the cultural heritage enthusiasts and in the organization, which had been dismantled by inept managers over the past eight years.
He was a source of positive effects in the CHTHO over the past five months that he has held the position of directing the organization.
He accompanied President Rouhani in the visit he made to New York in September to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Najafi met Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Thomas P. Campbell and several other officials of the museum to discuss bilateral cooperation between the MoMA and Iranian museums.
He brought home the 7th century artifact that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had seized from a smuggler in 2003.
He also paid a visit to the International Tourism Trade Fair -- FITUR in Madrid last week to rebuild the Iranian tourism industry, which has lost many opportunities over the past eight years.
Five persons were selected by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to preside over the CHTHO during his two terms of administration. The first was his close controversial ally, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaii.
Hamid Baqaii, Ruhollah Ahmadzadeh Kermani, Hassan Musavi and Mohammad-Sharif Malekzadeh were other directors of the CHTHO under Ahmadinejad.
The CHTHO had been suffering from mismanagement over these two terms.
In one case, Baqaii appointed Azadeh Ardakani, a microbiologist, to the National Museum of Iran, Iran’s most important museum which preserves tens of thousands of artifacts.
MMS/YAW
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