William Lacy Swing, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration who is visiting Tehran met with Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, Iranian Deputy Foreign minister for International and Legal Affairs, on Wednesday.
The two sides exchanged views on bilateral cooperation. Also Mr. Araghchi referred to the long years of Iran hosting multi-million population of Afghan nationals after the Soviet invasion of 1979 and highlighted the economic and non-economic consequences of this issue.
“Despite the high costs of hosting Afghan refugees, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always complied with observing its humanitarian responsibilities,” said the Iranian diplomat after adding that volunteer return of the Afghans is the principle policy of Iran.
He also recounted that after the decree issued by Iranian Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, in some years ago, the illegal Afghan immigrants have also now access to free public education in Iran.
“The International community should assist the recovery process inside Afghanistan to motivate Afghans return to their homeland,” said the Iranian deputy foreign minister. “International organizations, including the International Organization for Migration can run diverse projects to enable Afghan refugees to gain the needed capabilities to return to their own country.”
“Security and progress in Afghanistan has always been important for us and we are ready to cooperate with the international community for this cause,” he highlighted.
During the same meeting, Mr. Swing extended condolences over the occurrence of the deadly earthquake in western Iran and voiced gratitude to Iranians generous hospitality toward Afghan nationals, especially Leader’s decree allowing illegal families to enjoy free public education in Iran.
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