Iran’s New President Calls for Extensive Ties With Neighbors

Iran's newly-elected President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday said establishing extensive interaction with neighboring countries constitutes one of his government's main foreign policy principles.

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"There are countless potentials for the development of relations between the two countries in different fields, especially economy," Raisi said in a meeting with Nurdinjon Ismailov, speaker of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan.

Raisi also held meetings with envoys from other countries dispatched to Tehran to attend his inauguration ceremony on Thursday. During his meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad al-Busaidi, Raisi said that Iran aims to develop relations with Oman "in all political, economic, social and cultural fields."

For his part, al-Busaidi greeted Raisi's election and said that the "historical and deep-rooted relationship" between Oman and Iran has become "a model between countries in the region."

During another meeting with Mahmadtoir Zokirzoda, chairman of the Assembly of Representatives of Tajikistan, Raisi called for the development of ties between Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan as three Persian-speaking countries.

"The insecurity in Afghanistan today, which is rooted in foreign interference in the country, is not in anyone's interest. Iran and Tajikistan should have closer bilateral and international cooperation with each other to eliminate this common concern," Raisi noted.

Zokirzoda praised the potential for the development of Iran-Tajikistan ties, which he described as based on "common language, culture, history and civilisation." The Iranian newly-elected president has set the enhancement of ties with neighboring, Asian, Latin American, and non-Western countries as a priority of his foreign policy agenda.