Lovemore Mataire Senior Reporter
A high-powered Islamic Republic of Iran delegation led by the Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Ali Rabiei, is expected in the country tomorrow for the 8th Joint Permanent Commission that will review progress of various bilateral agreements between the two countries.

Iranian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Mohammad Amin Nejad, on Thursday said that his country’s Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare would be accompanied by a 40 member delegation comprising of government officials and businesspeople.

“The delegation of 40 people is coming this Sunday and from 27 to 29 July we will have two days for senior officials and one day for ministerial meeting. The meeting is meant to revise and review what happened during the last session in October 2012 and what can happen in future,” said Mr Nejad.

He said the Permanent Joint Commission was to coincide with the Global Small to Media Enterprises Expo set to start on Tuesday.

Mr Nejad said the expo was within the framework of the understanding between Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development led by Minister Sithembiso Nyoni and her counterpart from Iran.

At least 28 Iranian companies would be exhibiting at the expo and representatives would also attend a conference to be officially opened by President Mugabe.

Mr Nejad said the Joint Permanent Commission was essential in establishing stable and sustainable relations so that the two countries could find common ground on various bilateral, economic, social and political issues.

“It is not just one country which can just come and say we can do it or we cannot do it.

“No, it is a common or mutual relationship.

“Sometimes we think that this issue we can advance while on the Zimbabwean side they may have constraints. But for me as an Ambassador it is important that the Joint Commission offers a good platform for the two countries to speak to each other, to explain their positions and views about the cooperation and understand each other in a very frank way and proceed to see areas that can mutually benefit the two countries,” said Mr Nejad.

Zimbabwe and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding which was set to strengthen cooperation between upcoming businesses and potential investors from the Middle East country.

The decision to forge cooperation comes after delegations from the two countries made successful visits to the respective countries over the last five months.

In October last year, a 14-member delegation from Zimbabwe led by the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development, Cde Nyoni visited Iran on a fact finding mission.

It is envisaged that since SMEs are a new economy in the country, Iran can offer a lot of advice on how to harness it since the country went through the same phase of economic sanctions and managed to adopt and nurture them into large corporations.

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