FUTURE OF ZIMBABWE – IRAN RELATIONS BRIGHT
The future of Zimbabwe-Iran Relations is bright. This came out in a Special Lecture delivered by His Excellency Ahmad Erfanian, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Zimbabwe, at the Institute’s Campus on 26 June 2017. The Students of Contemporary Diplomacy and International Relations profited from an animated discussion with the Ambassador in his presentation titled “Iran-Zimbabwe Relations: Challenges and Opportunities”.
Ambassador Ahmad Erfanian commended the Institute of Diplomacy for being a center of excellence in nurturing the youth into great advocates for humanity determined to play a new critical role in making the world’s endeavors become more civil and people oriented through the training and teaching of soft skills and International issues.
In his keynote presentation, the Ambassador underscored the good relations between Zimbabwe and Iran which go back to the period when diplomatic relations were established between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Zimbabwe, in 1979 when the late Vice President Dr Simon Muzenda visited Tehran as the head of delegation that met with the late Imam Khomeini, Founder of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
Premised on the excellent relations, His Excellency brought out that Tehran and Harare conducted several meetings of the Joint Permanent Commission whereby tens of agreements and Memorandum of Understanding were signed with a view to expanding political, economic, and cultural cooperation and developing unified positions on issues of mutual interest. He articulated that Iran holds an important position in International energy production and has huge proven reserves of oil and natural gas in the world, therefore can be a reliable partner of Zimbabwe in the energy sector. He also propounded that Iran has made considerable advancements in science and technology including aerospace, nuclear science and medical development and is ready to share its experiences with Zimbabwe.
The Ambassador however regretted that trade volumes and business from both countries are low due to the inaccessibility of relevant information about the capabilities and opportunities that can be found in each other’s countries. Transport network is also hampering business between the two states, Zimbabwe is a landlocked country and is quite distant from Iran, thus bulk goods imported and exported by Zimbabwe are very costly and it is time consuming.
In his concluding remarks, Ambassador Ahmad Erfanian pronounced his profound gratitude on the consistent consolidation and growth of cooperation, partnership and engagement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Zimbabwe.