Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who met with Sri Lankan top officials in a two day visit to the south Asian country, left Ceylon for Singapore. He arrived in Singapore late in the evening on Wednesday.
The Iranian top diplomat met with President Maithripala Sirisena, the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and the Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana of Sri Lanka, during his visit to Colombo.
In Singapore, Zarif will sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“Departing for Singapore to sign TAC with ASEAN & meet with more friends,” reads Zari’d tweet at the end of his visit to Colombo. The message marks his optimism to reap good results in Singapore.
“Consensus among Southeast Asian countries in accepting Iran as a member of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with the ASEAN signifies the importance all the members of the association attach to relations and interaction with Iran as an important and influential power in regional and international calculations,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Saturday.
Since Monday, foreign ministers of the member states of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) have convened in Singapore for a six day discussion on regional and trans-regional issues related to this Association and the TAC.
The ministers of ten member states, as well as the ministers of observer countries, including Iran, will discuss the latest regional and trans-regional developments in the 51st session of the Association and the subsidiary meetings, the 19th meeting of ASEAN Plus, the 8th ministerial meeting of East Asia, and the 25th regional conference of ASEAN.
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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