Zarif left the capital Tehran for South Africa\u00a0at the head of a ranking political and economic delegation on Saturday night, state news agency IRNA reported.<\/p>\n
He is traveling to Pretoria, the country\u2019s administrative capital, at the invitation of his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.<\/p>\n
The visit is to feature the 13th gathering of the countries\u2019 Joint Commission, as well as meetings with the host nation\u2019s president, Nkoana-Mashabane, and finance minister. The gathering will address the implementation of standing agreements between the two sides.<\/p>\n
The 12th such gathering was hosted by the Islamic Republic in 2015 during a visit by the South African top diplomat.<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete flew to Tehran in September. Meeting with the top parliamentarian, President Hassan Rouhani said the two sides enjoyed \u201cgood and effective\u201d cooperation in international organizations, and their collaboration could play a prominent role in promoting peace and stability across the world.<\/p>\n
Zarif\u2019s next stop will take him to Uganda, where he would address expanding of bilateral political and economic relations. The Uganda stay is also scheduled to witness inauguration of a 50-bed hospital financed by the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
The Iranian foreign minister will finally fly to Niger to meet with the country\u2019s top officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN, Oct. 22 \u2013 Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has left the country on a three-leg tour of African nations, his first since the inauguration of the Islamic Republic\u2019s 12th administration earlier in the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n