TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has met with the Iranian envoys to Iraq and Russia to take stock of their diplomatic work.

The meetings with Mohammad Kazem Al Sadeq, Iran’s new ambassador to Iraq, and Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, took place on Saturday in Tehran. 

Al Sadeq, who will replace Iraj Masjedi, will soon travel to Iraq to begin discharging his duties.  The change of ambassadors comes as Iraq is gearing up for government formation in the wake of the recent parliamentary elections which handed cleric Muqtada Sadr a victory.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said recently that Iran seeks to become a facilitator in the internal affairs of Iraq and talk to all parties with the aim of achieving a smooth and democratic transition of power in the Arab country.

During the meeting, Ambassador Jalali presented a report on the latest activities of the Iranian embassy in Russia in order to carry out the missions assigned to it.

On Saturday, a meeting of the Foreign Economic Relations Coordination Headquarters was held on the subject of the "Russian Joint Economic Commission". The meeting was chaired by Mehdi Safari, the Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy. Relevant managers and Ambassador Jalali also attended the meeting. 

Iran is accelerating efforts aimed at boosting trade ties with other countries through economic diplomacy. To this end, Safari met with Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives for Industry and Development Rachmat Gobel on Saturday.

In the meeting, Rachmat Gobel said he is visiting Tehran for the purpose of pursuing agreements and understandings between the officials of the two countries, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Gobel also underlined the need for the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Indonesia to boost their ties as two important countries from two strategic regions of the world.

The deputy chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives for industry and development also referred to Iran’s scientific and technological capabilities and the country’s resources, declaring that the Indonesian parliament is ready to expand cooperation with Tehran, especially in economic and trade areas.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy also pointed to the friendly ties between Iran and Indonesia and spoke about the capacities and capabilities of Iran in nano-technology, biotechnology, transit, railroad network, mining resources and energy. Safari called for Iran and Indonesia to focus on boosting relations in those spheres.

In further remarks, the deputy foreign minister stressed the possibility of increasing trade volume between Tehran and Jakarta and described Iran’s Chabahar Port as a vital and safe transit point for Indonesian exports. Safari noted that the Indonesian goods can be exported to other regional countries including Central Asia and the Caucasus. He further announced Iran’s readiness to use national currencies in trade deals and to employ the set-off mechanism to expand trade relations between the two countries as much as possible.