Iran seeks to extend ties with Latvia

Mohamamd Javad Zarif attending a joint press conference with Lativian counterpart Edgar Rinkevich who is in Tehran heading a delegation to Iran said that Islamic Republic of Iran seeks expansion of ties with Latvia.

“I am pleased to have Latvian foreign minister in Tehran and to talk to him, who is in his first visit to the country,” Zarif told in the press conference. “Their non-resident ambassador had submitted his credentials which were a prelude to expansion of political, economic and financial relations,” added Zarif, who believed that Latvia was EU’s cultural capital.

Zarif also pointed to the subjects in his meeting with Latvian delegation as being “a group of businessmen has also come along with Mr. foreign minister and we discussed the grounds for economic cooperation.”

“Another subject was expansion of Iran-the EU relations, with the intention being improved bilateral relations with the EU,” said Zarif, “Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, and Iraq were also discussed with Latvian counterpart.”

“As you know, Latvia will be president of the EU beginning in 2015 and it is important to us in terms of developing easy relations with the EU,” Zarif asserted.

Latvia is among the first former USSR republics which are EU and NATO member. The country joined the Euro zone in early 2014. It will be EU president by the beginning of 2015.