TEHRAN - The new Iranian ambassador to Algeria, Mohammad Reza Babai Siahkel, met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and presented him with his credentials.

On March 21, the newly-appointed Iranian ambassador presented a copy of his credentials to Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ataf.

Ambassador Babaei Siahkel replaced the previous ambassador, Hussein Masha’alchi, according to Al-Alam.

The new ambassador had met with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian before leaving for Algeria to assume his duties.

In the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister referred to the good political relations between Iran and Algeria over the past years, stressing the need to make more efforts to strengthen and expand bilateral relations.

Amir Abdollahian also expressed his satisfaction with the high level of political relations between the two countries and stressed the need to use the capabilities of the two countries to expand economic and commercial cooperation between them, especially in the field of the knowledge-based economy and the export of technical and engineering services.

In late March, Amir Abdollahian held a phone conversation with his Algerian counterpart to congratulate him on his appointment as Algeria’s top diplomat. During their conversation, Amir Abdollahian and Ataf congratulated each other on the holy month of Ramadan and held talks over expanding bilateral ties in different fields, especially economic and trade relations, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

They also discussed regional and international developments including those in Palestine.

Amir Abdollahian extended warm greetings of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi to Algeria’s President Abdul Majid Tabun and invited Ataf to visit Tehran, which was welcomed by the top Algerian diplomat.

Ataf also extended warm greetings on behalf of high-ranking Algerian officials to their Iranian peers and said his country is ready to expand bilateral ties with Iran and in different areas.

The two foreign ministers further stressed the need for close cooperation between Iran and Algeria in regional and international bodies.