Iran, Malaysia Stress Expanding Cooperation in Agricultural Sector

Iran’s Minister of Agriculture Mohammad Ali Nikbakht met with visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest.

During the meeting, the two sides emphasized the establishment of the Iran-Malaysia Joint Agricultural Cooperation Committee for the operationalization of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides in Malaysia in July.

Malaysia is one of the most important countries in West Asia and the Islamic world, Nikbakht underlined.

He termed the exchange of high-ranking delegations of the two countries in economic and agricultural fields as “determining and significant” and added that the leaders of the two countries are seriously determined to expand cooperation with Asian countries, including Malaysia.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Nikbakht pointed to 90 percent self-sufficiency of Iran regarding food security and reiterated that Iran has managed to attain achievements in recent years in producing basic goods and important food products.

The Malaysian foreign minister, for his part, termed his meeting with high-ranking Iranian officials as ‘important and strategic’, saying they help to facilitate the trade and economic ties between the two countries.

Expanding the relations with Iran in political, economic, trade and economic fields is a main policy of the administration of Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir emphasized.