Iranain Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who arrived in Singapore Monday night as the second leg of his Asian tour, conferred with Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Iran’s various economic potentials and its keen interest in activating ties with Singapore in economic areas, especially in energy, banking, maritime transport, science, health, IT, petrochemicals and investment.
In addition to economic ties, the two sides also discussed recent developments in the region.
Balakrishnan, for his part, expressed his satisfaction with the visit of Singaporean delegation to Tehran and the signing of an investment MoU between the two sides, saying his country is ready to participate in Iran’s investment projects, especially those related to petrochemicals.
Following that meeting, the Iranian top diplomat also held talks with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on the two countries’ cooperation on economic and banking areas.
Zarif discussed various domains for expanding economic cooperation between the two sides, calling for the activation of ties in these fields.
The Singaporean minister, for his part, expressed his country’s readiness for boosting economic cooperation with Iran in all relevant areas.
Earlier on Tuesday, FM Zarif also met with a number of Iranian expatriates and students studying in Singapore at his residency hotel. He said Iranians living abroad are a capital for Iran and a symbol of the Iranian nation for other nations; “they are the best kind of bridge for dialogs among various cultures and civilizations,” he said.
Zarif deemed all achievements of the Islamic Republic in its foreign policy owing to the nation’s wise choices at critical and historic moments; “if it were not for their wise and correct choices, we would not have been presented with the possibility to succeed.”
Mohammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to hold separate meetings with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Parliament Speaker Halimah Yacob as well as Minister for Law K. Shanmugam.
Following his visit to Indonesia and Singapore, Zarif will head for Thailand, Brunei, New Zealand and Australia as the sixth leg of his Asian tour.
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