Achievements of Zarif’s East European+Lebanon Tour

Tehran, Nov 12, IRNA – The visits of the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to three East European countries as well as Lebanon stood at top of the Iranian foreign policy developments last week. Zarif started his four-leg tour on Monday, heading to Lebanon prior visiting Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He was the first high ranking foreign political figure to visit Beirut after the election of Michel Aoun as the new president following a long political stand-off in the country. He held several meetings with a number of senior Lebanese officials including the president, the prime minister, the parliament speaker as well as the Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah during his two-day stay there. During the meetings, he discussed regional issues as well as bilateral relations with the Lebanese politicians. The Iranian foreign minister also attended a gathering on Iran-Lebanon economic opportunities as he was leading a top 30-member economic delegation to the country. Outlining the outcomes of his conversations with Lebanese officials, he said he was optimistic about the prospect of ties with Lebanon because he saw relations with Beirut as beneficial to both nations as well as the whole region. From Lebanon, the foreign minister flew to Bucharest, Romania, where he signed two documents on mutual cooperation with his counterpart. He also explored ways of promoting bilateral relations during meetings with a number of top Romanian officials including President Klaus Iohannis, Speaker Florin Iordache and Prime Minister Dacian Julien Ciolos. When in Romania, Zarif commented on the election of Donald Trump as the new American President, saying the results took many by surprise because they were to face the realities of the world and realized that contrary to their assumptions political apparatus were no longer able to determine the future. Arriving in Slovakia from Romania, he held meetings with ranking officials and attended the Iran-Slovakia economic and trade meeting. The foreign minister also signed a letter of understanding on political cooperation with Slovakia. Heading to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, as the last leg of his East European tour, Zarif conferred with political officials on regional crises especially situation in Syria, fighting terrorism and ties with the European Union and discussed expanding trade and economic relations between the two countries in such areas as energy, banking and tourism. In a joint conference with his Czech counterpart, he stressed the need for all parties to abide by their commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Iranian foreign minister described the deal as an important international deal which came as the end of successful diplomatic process. He also signed documents with the Czech officials on bolstering political exchanges. 1378/IRNA