Pres. Rouhani:

Tanzania ‘Iran’s gateway into East African market’

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani highlighted his administration’s special attention to expanding ties with African countries, including Tanzania.

News ID: 66308

Date: 11 October 2017 - 16:10

President Rouhani made the remarks in a meeting with Tanzanian Foreign Minister Augustine Mahiga on Wednesday in Tehran, adding ""Tanzania is Iran's gateway to access the East African market and my administration is determined to develop relations with friendly countries around the world, especially in Africa.”

Rouhani thanked the Tanzanian president for his invitation to make an official visit to Dar es Salaam, saying "Tanzania, with its 900 years of cultural and historical ties with Iran, is a valuable investment in the development of cooperation.”

"Major Iranian companies active in the field of engineering are ready to advance development projects in Africa, including in Tanzania,” Rouhani said. "Economic cooperation should be developed alongside the existing historical, cultural and political ties between Iran and Tanzania, and the first step to achieve this end is to facilitate monetary, financial and banking relations.”

The president also called for establishment of a joint economic commission between Iran and Tanzania to address the scope for developing commercial and economic cooperation as well as ways to strengthen scientific and technological relations.

Elsewhere, President Rouhani discussed regional issues, saying "terrorism is a major global threat which necessitates a united and collective fight from all countries against it.”

"The fact that no one dares to openly support terrorist groups under various labels, including Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram or ISIL, is a major progress,” he added, voicing Iran’s readiness to provide Tanzania with experiences in combatting terrorist groups.

Augustine Mahiga, for his part, welcomed the presence of Iranian companies in the implementation and development of its developmental projects, adding "Iranian products can be delivered to the East African market through Tanzania.”

He went on to say, "Tanzania would like to use Iran’s experiences not only in countering terrorism and extremism, but also in the fight against organized international crime, human trafficking and money laundering".