President Ahmadinejad to start Asian tour Monday

Tehran, June 7, IRNA – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to start a three-nation Asian tour on Monday which will take him to Turkey, Tajikistan and China, it was announced here on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast made the announcement while talking to IRNA.

He added that President Ahmadinejad’s trip to Turkey which will start later today, is aimed at attending the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Mehman-Parast announced that the rotating chairmanship of the conference will be handed over to Turkey by Kazakhstan.

Due to the importance of regional security, particularly in the Gaza Strip, the participating delegates will be represented at the meeting at the highest level, he said.

CICA was first established in the early 1990s by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose country hosted the only two previous summits, the last one four years ago.

President Ahmadinejad is to proceed to Tajikistan from Turkey where he is to attend an international water seminar.

Referring to Iran’s great experiences in dam construction, Mehman-Parast said that Tehran is to attend the meeting at the highest possible level.

The President will visit China on the last leg of his Asian tour to attend the Expo Shanghai 2010./end