TEHRAN, Apr. 08 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has held a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart in Ashgabat on Thursday afternoon.

The top Iranian diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks with his Turkmen counterpart in Ashgabat on Thursday afternoon after arriving in Turkmenistan as the last leg of a 4-nation tour to Central Asian countries following his visits to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan and holding talks with those nations' high ranking officials.

In the meeting with the foreign minister of Turkmenistan earlier today, Zarif "I am very happy that after a while that I was not able to travel to Turkmenistan due to the coronavirus pandemic, I finally managed to return to the lovely city of Ashgabat and I'd appreciate the warm and sincere hospitality of the Turkmen authorities."

Noting that he was also grateful for the great meeting he had had with the President of Turkmenistan, the Iranian foreign minister added, "This meeting was very good and showed the depth of relations between the two countries."

Zarif added "With the comments that the President of Turkmenistan made during his meeting with me,one can say that these views are completely in parallel with the viewpoints of the President of Iran and the Leader [of the Islamic Revolution.]"

He told the Turkmen Foreign Minister that, "you and I, and the head of the Joint Commission on behalf of Iran should seek to seriously advance relations between the two countries."

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