First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri says increased interaction with African countries is high on Iran's foreign policy agenda.
He made the remarks in a meeting with African ambassadors and heads of African missions to Iran held at the presidential office in Tehran on Tuesday.
The first vice president said "constructive interaction" with the world's countries is a serious policy of the administration, adding, "The continent of Africa is definitely the top priority in this regard," the Mehr news agency reported.
Jahangiri also said, "Iran will provide the necessary (financial) resources for the development and investment projects it has undertaken to implement in African countries."
He praised African diplomats for their active participation in the meeting and expressed hope that the meeting would be a starting point in following up mutual agreements. He said he is hopeful that wide-ranging relations between Iran and African states will be strengthened. Jahangiri described expansion of ties with Africa as a principled policy of Iran and reiterated, "Promotion of ties with Africa in political, economic, and cultural areas has been a definite policy on the Islamic Republic's (foreign policy) agenda since its establishment."
Africa's Century
The senior official described the current era as "the Africa's century" and said the African continent has made great achievements in political, cultural, social and economic spheres over the past years. He said it is necessary to closely collaborate with Africa in the international arena to prepare the ground for the establishment of a global system on the basis of multilateralism. Jahangiri said, "We should try to adopt unanimous positions on major international issues, such as peace and security, development, poverty elimination, multilateralism, campaign against contagious diseases, environment, and cultural diversity."
The vice president said Iran enjoys great capabilities to implement projects in technical and engineering fields, transfer know-how, and make investments in Africa, a fact which necessitates identifying in advance the obstacles and the ways to overcome them. Elsewhere, he referred to the orders issued by the Leader and the president to make the country's specialized department on Africa more active and said, "We are determined to expand our relations with African countries on an increasing basis even in hard times."
In addition, he said, "The private sector and business leaders need the required guarantees from their own governments and the governments of the target countries which demands special attention."
