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Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity Mr George Charamba made the remarks after meeting a delegation led by the spokesperson and special assistant to Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ramin Mehmanparast.
The delegation comprised editor-in-chief of Jame Jam newspaper Dr Mohasen Nandegari; Iran newspaper deputy editor-in-chief Mr Monsour Sadr Sadi; Mr Mohammad Karimi of Fars News Agency; and Mr Dawood Hajbayan of ISNA news agency as well as Tehran’s ambassador in Harare Mr Mahommed Pournajaf
Mr Charamba said, “It was not easy to get friends at that time when we were under attack from the British but Iran took that very dramatic stance to stand by Zimbabwe to try and reinforce that stance.”
Iran has supported Zimbabwe materially and morally.
Mr Charamba praised Iran for supporting media development in Zimbabwe through technically assisting ZBC.
“You have favoured this ministry. We were among the first institutions of Government to receive resources from Iran by way of the digitalisation programme that we carried out at ZBC.
“It is not yet complete because of shortcomings on the Zimbabwean side, but . . . we are working on that.”
Ambassador Mehmanparast commended the strong Zimbabwe-Iran bilateral ties.
“We are happy to visit Zimbabwe and pleased with the excellent relations which date back 30 years,” he said.
He stressed the need for countries to express their own opinion to the world rather than to wait for Western media to do that for them.
Afterwards, the delegation met Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi in closed-door discussions.
Ambassador Mehmanparast said Zimbabwe should learn from Iran where the Foreign Affairs Ministry works with the local media to counter negative perceptions created by the Western Press.
The delegation later toured New Ziana and Herald House and they are expected to also visit ZBC, and the Heroes Acre.