2023-07-13 07:07:03
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrives today in Zimbabwe from Uganda as part of his African tour, which he began with a visit to Kenya two days ago. This is the first tour of an Iranian president in 11 years to the African continent.
Raisi’s visit to Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe comes at a time when Tehran is seeking to open diplomatic tracks to ease its international isolation and reduce the impact of economic sanctions imposed on it.
Raisi said after meeting his Ugandan counterpart on Wednesday that the Iranian government “is one of its top priorities to build relations with the African continent, especially Uganda,” expressing his aspiration to “expand cooperation between the two countries in various fields.”
Raisi stressed that “in the field of energy and oil in particular, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to share its expertise with Uganda regarding the refinery and issues of technical and engineering services.”
Raisi is on his tour at the head of a delegation that includes the foreign minister and senior businessmen, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Iranian optimism
Last Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani expressed optimism that the 3-day tour would contribute to strengthening economic and trade relations with African countries.
He said that Tehran and the African continent share “common political views,” without providing further details.
Before that, the Iranian and Kenyan presidents had pledged to strengthen relations between their countries, during the signing of a number of trade agreements on the occasion of Raisi’s visit to Nairobi.
The two countries signed 5 memorandums of understanding that focused on several sectors, including information technology, investment promotion and fish farming.
In recent months, Africa has turned into a field for a diplomatic battle in which Western capitals and Moscow compete to win the support of their countries after the Russian war on Ukraine, which had major economic repercussions on the continent, including a significant rise in food prices.
And the Iranian Foreign Ministry said last Saturday that it expects the volume of Iranian trade with African countries to increase to more than two billion dollars this year, but it did not give a number for comparison with 2022.
Western powers have also sought to deepen trade relations with the continent, along with India and China, which are investing heavily in infrastructure.
Raisi described the visit to Kenya as “a turning point in the development of relations between the two countries.”
Iran has intensified its diplomatic activity in recent months to reduce its isolation and mitigate the repercussions of returning US sanctions after former US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the nuclear agreement between Tehran and European countries in 2018.
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