Iran ready for strategic cooperation in Africa - Mottaki

Tehran, Oct 21, IRNA
Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki said here Monday Iran is ready for implementation of strategic economic and development plans throughout Africa continent.

Mottaki announced Iran's readiness for strategic cooperation with
African countries in a meeting with his visiting Sudanese counterpart
Deng Altor, further reiterating, "Parts of the problems with which the
African nations are entangled are due to interference of foreign
countries."
He expressed hope that the ongoing, lingering crisis in Sudan's Darfur
region, too, would be solved like the crisis that was solved in
southern part of Sudan in recent past.

Considering surveying the bilateral Tehran-Khartoum ties as the main
axis of his talks with Alor, Mottaki said, "There are broad potentials
for cooperation in energy and agricultural fields between Iran and
Sudan, while the existence of huge natural resources in Sudan provides
an appropriate opportunity for the Iranian investors and companies."
Sudan's minister of foreign affairs, too, pointing out that Iran is
Sudan's great friend and that Tehran has so far assisted Khartoum
greatly in various occasions, said, "One of the objectives of this
visit is informing the Iranian officials about the latest developments
in Sudan."
He added, "I would also like to invite Iran to give high priority to
Sudan in its bid to cooperate with the African countries in
implementation of strategic plans in Africa, while appreciating the
Islamic Republic of Iran for its generous contributions to Sudan so
far."
The Sudanese top diplomat elsewhere in his talks with Mottaki voiced
Khartoum's full support for Iran's peaceful nuclear program, adding,
"I am also carrying Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir's message for the
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
According to the report, Mottaki told the reporters after his talks
with Alor, "Iran attaches great importance to its relations with Sudan
in important north Africa region."
Reiterating that the crisis in southern Sudan was solved thanks to the
wise conduct of the Sudanese leaders, he said, "Today, too, the Darfur
crisis can be solved relying on wisdom, and keeping in mind the
national interests of Sudan, free from the interference of the
foreigners."
Alor, referring to the odd arrest warrant issued by the International
Court of Justice at Hague against his country's legal president,
reiterated, "Khartoum Government is determined to put an end to the
crisis in Darfur region to assist in solving the newly emerged problem
due to the historically unprecedented issuance of that odd verdict."
Mottaki, too, said, "Tehran's stand, like entire other Islamic
countries' stands, is expressed in the framework of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the NAM
Foreign Ministers' Tehran Conference final communique, all of which
have ruled that the move is unjustifiable."
He added, "How come the International Court of Justice that has closed
its eyes on the massacre of thousands of innocent people in Iraq and
Afghanistan suddenly become so concerned about the internal crisis in
a country?"
The Iranian foreign minister added, "The frankness of the Hague court
is also seriously put under question when we see that it has always
closed its eyes towards the repeated Holocausts occurring in occupied
Palestine against the oppressed Palestinian nation." At the end of the
press conference a reporter asked Mottaki his opinion about the US
officials comments on opening a US interests office in Tehran.

He said that the matter is still at media level, aimed at mind
reading, or predicting the stands of the Iranian officials.


End