Tehran, Feb 18 (IANS): The 24th Iran Media Expo opened in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday following a six-year hiatus.

The opening ceremony was held at Imam Khomeini's Mosalla, a large prayer hall, with the attendance of Iranian Culture Minister Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili, Osama Hamdan, a senior politburo member of the Gaza-ruling Palestinian faction Hamas, and other Iranian cultural officials as well as media members, Xinhua news agency reported.

The expo's last edition opened in October 2017 and has been put on pause since then due to a slump in the Iranian press market and the COVID-19 outbreak.

Speaking at the expo's opening ceremony, Esmaeili said he and the sector were glad to see that some 450 media outlets have taken part in this year's expo.

More than 600 media outlets from Iran and abroad and relevant knowledge-based firms were taking part in the four-day event, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

The expo features themed meetings on media technology, including artificial intelligence, politics and educational workshops, and ceremonies to honor Iran's prominent and veteran journalists and media members, according to the expo's official website.

Aside from local media, among the invited are outlets from China, Russia, Qatar, Türkiye and Lebanon, as well as some media activists from European countries who have been actively covering the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Iranian Culture Ministry said in an online statement.