Publish Date: 31 July 2018 - 12:17

TEHRAN, Jul. 31 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Tehran for Colombo on Tuesday for holding bilateral talks with Sri Lankan officials.

Foreign minister's visit to Sri Lanka aims at holding talks with Sri Lanka officials on ways of expanding bilateral ties between the two countries.

Zarif is also slated to travel to Singapore to sign a pact between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

The treaty will be signed at a meeting of foreign ministers of ASEAN late in July that will be attended by US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and North Korean officials.

Earlier, Foreign Ministry Spokesman said "consensus of Southeast Asian countries to accept Iran as a member of Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), indicates the importance of relations with Iran as an influential power regionally and internationally."

Ministers of foreign affairs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have convened in Singapore as of Monday for six days to discuss regional and trans-regional issues related to this Association and the TAC.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) approved Iran’s request to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) during the 49th meeting of its foreign ministers in Laos.

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