TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called for bolstering Iran-Algeria relations in a meeting with the Arab country’s Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf on Saturday.

In this meeting, President Raisi Praised the revolutionary record and resistance of the Algerian nation against colonialism. He emphasized the will of the Islamic Republic of Iran to expand cooperation and improve the level of relations with Algeria, according to a statement by the Iranian presidency.

President Raisi considered the relations between Iran and Algeria as the relationship between two friendly, brotherly and Muslim countries, which can be expanded based on the close and aligned regional and international positions of the two sides, in various fields, including commercial and economic fields.

Referring to Iran's significant scientific and technological achievements and capabilities and announcing his readiness to share these achievements with Algeria, Raisi considered the strengthening of interactions between Islamic countries as the basis for forming a strong group of Islamic aligned countries.

“If all the Islamic countries were aligned with each other, and other Islamic countries had the position that Iran and Algeria have in supporting Palestine, today we would not have witnessed many atrocities of the ruling system against Muslims in the region and the world,” President Raisi said. 

Attaf, for his part, conveyed the readiness of Algeria to expand relations with Iran at the highest level. He praised the foreign policy achievements of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of foreign relations and efforts to expand relations with friendly and Muslim countries. “The level of economic and commercial relations between the two countries is not in any way proportional to the privileged political relations between them. But with the efforts of the presidents of the two countries, we will see changes in the field of economic and commercial relations,” he said. 

Iran-Algeria ties on the right track: FM    
The top diplomats of Iran and Algeria met in Tehran on Saturday. In the meeting, both sides praised relations between the two countries. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Iran-Algeria relations are on the right track. He made the remarks at a joint presser with Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf. 

“The relations between the two countries are on the right track and an agreement has been reached for the cancellation of political visas in the first step and then for the cancellation of normal visas,” Amir Abdollahian said, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA. 

He added, “At the political level, we have always had powerful dialogues and consultations at the level of high officials and presidents, prime ministers, first vice presidents, as well as foreign ministers, and we will continue this way.”

He noted, “We have a consensus regarding the holding of the follow-up committee of the Joint High Commission between the two sides. The High Commission of Iran and Algeria is held at the level of the first vice president and prime minister of Algeria, and the relevant ministries are also in charge of the follow-up committee of this high commission. In the near future, the meetings of this committee will be held in the capitals of the two countries.”

Amir Abdollahian stated, “The two countries agreed to accelerate cooperation between the two sides in the fields of science, technology, knowledge-based companies, agriculture, medicine and medical equipment, industry, and mining.”

He continued, “Today we had a discussion about regional issues. Algeria did not allow the Zionist regime to obtain an observer status in the African Union. This country has always supported Palestine and played an important role in Syria's return to the Arab League.”

Referring to the agreement between Iran and Sudan to resume political relations, Amir Abdollahian said, “In today's talks, we were informed about the conflicts in Sudan and we exchanged views on focusing on the internal crisis in that country and the return of the parties to dialogue and ceasefire.”

 He pointed out that in the near future, the meeting of the heads of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) will be held in Algeria and that Iran is planning to attend the meeting at the level of president, which will be a good opportunity for diplomatic consultations between Iran, Algeria and other members participating in the meeting.

In the end, the Iranian foreign minister stated, “We are still working to neutralize the sanctions through dialogue and diplomacy.”

Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf, for his part, expressed satisfaction with the meeting with Amir Abdollahian. “We used this opportunity to discuss the rapid developments in the regional space as well as the international arena, and I am really happy that the results of today's talks were positive,” he said. “These results can inject more vitality into bilateral relations. The relations between the two countries are privileged and have the capacity for further development in economic fields.”

The Algerian foreign minister also welcomed the thaw between Iran and Saudi Arabia. “We are happy about the positive relations between the Arab countries and Iran and the historic agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia with the mediation of China, and we hope that this issue will help strengthen the convergence to face the challenges facing the regional countries,” he said.