By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Saturday said that Iran’s 13th government is committed to bolstering relations and cooperation with African countries, especially Nigeria.
Amirabdollahian who met with Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zubairu Dada on Saturday, expressed pleasure at the development of relations between the two countries, especially in the areas of economic and trade development.
According to Amirabdollahian, the current volume of cooperation between Iran and Nigeria which bolstered in the past two years, is not proportional to the capacities in the two states, stating that it is far from the desired point.
While emphasising the readiness of Iran’s 13th government to engage and cooperate with African countries, especially Nigeria, within the framework of the Government’s foreign policy, he reiterated that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no restrictions on the development of relations with Nigeria.
Referring to the Sixth Iran-Nigeria Joint Economic Commission in Tehran, Amirabdollahian highlighted that holding such meetings is considered an important step for the development of mutual relations.
Amirabdollahian conveyed President Raisi’s invitation to be submitted to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to pay a visit to Tehran.
Zubairu Dada, on his part, thanked Iran for the successful holding of the Sixth Iran-Nigeria Joint Economic Commission and added that there are many opportunities for cooperation between Iran and Nigeria.
He expressed hope that the implementation of the agreements reached will help to increase the level of trade cooperation between the two states.
Expressing Nigeria’s readiness to increase cooperation with Iran, he noted that Nigeria calls for strengthening cooperation with Iran in various fields in the future.
