Ghana president in Iran for negotiations
Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama has arrived in Tehran on
an official visit to hold talks with senior Iranian officials,
Press TV reported.
Heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Mahama arrived
in Tehran on Saturday night at the invitation of his Iranian
counterpart Hassan Rouhani.
The Ghanaian president was welcomed at Tehran Mehrabad airport by
Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati who chairs the Iranian side
of Iran-Ghana joint commission.
President Rouhani will officially welcome his Ghanaian counterpart
on Sunday.
The visit is the first by a Ghanaian president to Iran in 37
years.
Mahama is set to hold talks with Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, his Iranian counterpart as well as
Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani.
On Monday, he will also attend a trade and economic meeting of
businessmen and enterprises from the two countries.
Speaking to IRIB earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign
Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said
Iran attaches great importance to enhanced relations with African
countries.
He added that the two countries’ officials will issue a joint
statement and sign documents for cooperation in the sectors of
agriculture, oil and energy, legal assistance, renewable energy and
cocoa procession.
Mahama's trip comes in a series of visits by world leaders to
Tehran after the implementation of a nuclear agreement, dubbed the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached
between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in July 2015.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council –
the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany
started to implement the JCPOA on January 16.
After the JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions
imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council and the
US were lifted. Iran, in return, has put some limitations on its
nuclear activities.
The nuclear agreement was signed on July 14, 2015 following two and
a half years of intensive talks.