TEHRAN – Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa on Saturday described his country’s relations with Iran strategic and called for expanded ties between Tehran and Quito.

“Our approach in strategic relations is to promote the real identity of Ecuador as an important country in Latin America and to achieve independence from the U.S.,” he said in a meeting with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili.
Correa added that Tehran-Quito relations go beyond trade exchanges.
Deep cooperation between the two countries on the international scene can help establish a balance in relations between countries, he argued.
Saeed Jalili said, “We believe in the need for an expanded South-South cooperation and we are prepared to transfer our experiences in various fields to Ecuador.”
South-South cooperation is a term which describes the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the global South.
------------ Iran pushes for strong ties with Latin American states
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani in a separate meeting with Rafael Correa on Sunday stated, “One of the important strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to bolster relations with Latin American countries in political, economic and cultural spheres and the Ecuadorian president’s visit to Iran can pave the way for close long-term ties between the two countries.”
Larijani added that Majlis strongly favors expanded relations with friendly states in Latin America.
Larijani also said that Iran has “resisted” all the problems facing the country since 1979 Islamic Revolution.
He criticized the Western powers’ unilateral policies, saying a glance at the situation in the region, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrates that the U.S. unilateral and preemptive approach has ended in failure.
He said the U.S. claims to establish democracy, fight terrorism and limit drug trafficking in Afghanistan are just a pretext to justify its presence in the region.
Commenting on Iran’s nuclear program, Larijani said that after the Islamic Revolution the Western powers breached all their nuclear commitments and contracts so that Iran had no option but to domesticate peaceful nuclear technology for its future generations.
And now all obstacles which have been put in the way of Iran’s technological advancements are all politically motivated.
Rafael Correa stated that Iran has made enormous effort in the path to progress. He added with a “study of Iran’s history” it becomes evident that the Iranian nation has attained its great revolutionary achievements at a high price.
Correa pointed out that the Iraqi war against Iran (the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war) and three decades of sanctions against Iran created ideal opportunity for their efforts towards development.
“I was astonished at the great advancements in social, industrial and military fields in Iran, and Ecuador is determined to deepen its friendship and brotherhood in all spheres with the Islamic Republic of Iran”, he added.
The Middle East is now witnessing the same events that Ecuador experienced thirty years ago when the U.S., under the pretext of democracy, interfered in Latin America, and the region is still suffering from its repercussions, he pointed out.
Rafael Correa described South-South cooperation as the developing countries’ only possible way against Western conspiracy.