TEHRAN, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday that his country sought to expand cooperation with African states.
Raisi made the remarks at the second International Economic Conference of Iran and Africa held in the Iranian capital Tehran, which was attended by high-ranking officials of different African countries, according to a statement published by the president's office.
He said that Iran's leaders always highlight the necessity to enhance cooperation with African countries, adding the two sides should acquire greater knowledge of each other's capacities.
Raisi noted there was a significant difference between Iran's attitude towards Africa and that of the West, stressing that as history testified, the Western states had always been "seeking to solely plunder the African countries' wealth and resources."
He urged to expand economic cooperation between Iran and African countries, saying the majority of African countries were willing to cooperate with Iran.
The president also called for the removal of obstacles to the development of relations between Iran and Africa, expressing an aim of achieving a tenfold growth in annual bilateral trade, which reaches about 1 billion U.S. dollars currently.
Also on Friday, Raisi discussed with leaders of Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe on the sidelines of the conference about bilateral ties and cooperation. ■
