Fro October 15-18, 2016, Dr. Farda Asadov, Director of the Center for Eurasian and Middle East Studies, participated in two international academic events in Mashhad, Iran. Dr. Asadov represented Azerbaijan at the meeting of the Academic Council of the UNESCO Center Asian Research Institute. This meeting was connected to an international conference at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad on the influence of the Silk Road historical and cultural environment. Dr. Asadov gave a lecture at the conference on manuscripts of Arab geographer Ian al-Fagihi that were discovered in Mashhad. The academic program also included tours of the Astane Guds Razavi religious, academic and cultural complex and to the Firdowsi monument in the city of Tus.