Mali will never cooperate with Iran's enemies: Speaker

President of the National Assembly of Mali says many African countries are willing to have expanded relations with Iran and that his country will never cooperate with the country's enemies.

Issaka Sidibe made the remarks in Tehran late Saturday during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani who praised "friendship" between the Islamic Republic and African states. 

"Iran has a good friendship and level of relations with African countries, and the region's issues have always been a matter of attention for us and we have always supported the independence of African countries," Larijani said.

The president of the National Assembly of Mali stressed that his country "will always remain a friend of Iran and will never cooperate with its enemies."

“Many African countries are willing to expand their relations with Iran, and seek to become familiar with the Iranian culture through travelling to your country,” Sidibe told his Iranian counterpart.

“There is real amity between the two countries, and we hope to establish a new framework for bilateral cooperation as soon as possible,” he added. 

Sidibe also said Bamako would exhaust all possible efforts in its power to upgrade the level of bilateral trade relations, and hoped that his country would soon receive Iranian goods. 
The Iranian parliament speaker, for his part, hailed the quality of the two countries' parliamentary relations, and hoped that the two sides could also enhance their economic relations.

Issaka Sidibe is the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Inter-parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Member States which started its 38th plenary meeting at the Union’s Secretariat in Tehran Saturday. 

EA