“There is no obstacle to the all-out expansion of Tehran-Jakarta relations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Friday.
He also noted that the two Asian Muslim countries can forge closer cooperation at the regional and international levels on the basis of a whole host of commonalities.
The visiting Iranian diplomat said Iran and Indonesia, as two of the major Islamic countries, can very well employ their potential to help strengthen the Islamic unity and settle the problems that have gripped Muslim people, such as sectarianism and extremism.
Foreign Minister Zarif further emphasized the need to stimulate investment and boost banking cooperation between Iran and Indonesia.
Yudhoyono, for his part, hailed as developing the bilateral ties between Tehran and Jakarta, saying there exist great opportunities that should be immediately seized by the both nations.
As part of Iran’s policy of interaction with the world, Foreign Minister Zarif started a tour of East Asia on Tuesday with a visit to Japan for talks with Japanese high-ranking officials.
After his stay in Japan, he arrived in Indonesia on Thursday at the invitation of his Indonesian counterpart.
Zarif also held a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Raden Mohammad Marty Muliana Natalegawa on Thursday, when the two ministers discussed the latest status of bilateral relations between Tehran and Jakarta, the ways to expand mutual ties and the most recent upheavals in the regional and international arenas.