Zimbabwe Iran’s gateway to East African market: MP
By Sadeq Dehqan & Reza Abesh Ahmadlou
Staff writers
The head of the Iran-Zimbabwe Parliamentary Friendship Group said the African Continent has many unknown and attractive capacities for investment and cooperation with Iran, noting that Zimbabwe can be considered Iran’s gateway to the East African market.
Eqbal Shakeri told Iran Daily that stable collaboration have been established between the two countries in the fields of mining, agriculture and medical services, and extraterritorial cultivation.
A delegation comprised of Zimbabwean traders and some members of the parliamentary friendship group will visit Iran in the near future, the MP said, adding that during a recent visit of another delegation from the African country to Tehran, ways were studied to broaden the bilateral cooperation.
Referring to the recent visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, which took place in July, the lawmaker noted that 12 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were signed between the two countries in the fields of agriculture, pharmaceuticals, transfer of technology and medical services.
The previous government of Iran put all its efforts to communicate with Europe and completely neglected the African Continent, the MP criticized.
Referring to the activities of the incumbent government in the African market, he continued, “The African market, especially countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa, has surprised our investors and the private sector.”
“The Africa has many untouched capacities that can be used for Iranian companies active in the field of technology-based services.”
During Raisi’s visit to Africa, the Civil Committee of the Parliament was tasked to study the ways of exporting techno-engineering services to the continent, the MP added.
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS and having stronger presence in ECO and the African market show the incumbent government’s active diplomacy in the economic field, Shakeri said.
He also pointed to the strategic position of Iran in the region and noted that Iran is located at the crossroads of world traffic with a large amount of cargo and passengers pass through this region.
“Considering the importance of Iran’s transit routes, our enemies tried hard to reduce the importance of our transit routes by activating alternative routes around Iran, but all these plans failed after a short time,” the lawmaker noted, saying that the fastest and shortest transit routes to many parts of the world pass through Iran.
The government and Parliament have many plans for development of land, sea and air transportation, which will lead to good results in the promotion of commercial cooperation with other countries, the MP concluded.