FM Zarif Begins Africa Tour in Pretoria

Date: 22 October 2017 - 21:47

News ID: ۴۵۵۸۹

PRETORIA (Dispatches) -- Iran’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif on Sunday began his three-leg tour of African nations here, his first since the inauguration of the Islamic Republic’s 12th administration earlier in the year.
Zarif is being accompanied by a ranking political and economic delegation which left Tehran Saturday night, state news agency IRNA reported.
He arrived in Pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, at the invitation of his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
The visit is to feature the 13th gathering of the countries’ joint commission, as well as meetings with the host nation’s president, Jacob Zuma, and Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba. The gathering will address the implementation of standing agreements between the two sides.
The 12th such gathering was hosted by the Islamic Republic in 2015 during a visit by the South African top diplomat.
South Africa’s Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete flew to Tehran in September. Meeting with the top parliamentarian, President Hassan Rouhani said the two sides enjoyed "good and effective” cooperation in international organizations, and their collaboration could play a prominent role in promoting peace and stability across the world.
Zarif’s next stop will take him to Uganda, where he will address expanding of bilateral political and economic relations. The Uganda stay is also scheduled to witness inauguration of a 50-bed hospital financed by the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian foreign minister will finally fly to Niger to meet with the country’s top officials.
Senior officials at the administration of President Hassan Rouhani have pledged to "update” Iran's Africa strategy, pursuing a "new level” of strategic relations in the coming years.
The Islamic Revolution in 1979 resulted in a fundamental overhaul of Iranian foreign policy, changing its focus from the West to the developing world.
Tehran abandoned its ties with the South African apartheid regime in favor of the African National Congress (ANC) that took over in 1994 and is currently the governing political party in the country.
The former government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promoted the notion of an Iranian "South-South” strategy, aiming to expand relations with Africa and Latin America. In 2006, Ahmadinejad famously attended the African Union summit in Gambia as a guest of honor.
However, those efforts have faced enmity from the U.S. and its allies, including the occupying regime of Israel which has been trying to expand its footprints in Africa, where it has a chequered history because of its close ties with the apartheid regime.
In November 2010, Gambia broke diplomatic ties with Tehran and expelled all its diplomats in what the Islamic Republic believes was American pressure to cut Iran's efforts loose in the continent.
Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti and Comoros in January 2016 cut diplomatic relations with Iran following Saudi Arabia’s decision to sever ties with the Islamic Republic over angry protests outside the kingdom's embassy in Tehran.
Earlier this month, President of the National Assembly of Mali Issaka Sidibe said during a visit to Tehran that his country "will always remain a friend of Iran and will never cooperate with its enemies."