TEHRAN - Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht met and held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia Zambry Abdul Kadir in Tehran on Wednesday to explore avenues of cooperation between the two countries in the agricultural sector.

In this meeting, the two sides underlined the need for establishing a joint agricultural committee between Iran and Malaysia to follow up on the implementation of the agreements in this sector, Mehr News Agency reported.

“Malaysia is one of the important countries of Asia and the Islamic world and plays an important role in Iran's strategic policy in the West Asian region,” Nikbakht said in the meeting.

The official pointed to the exchange of high-ranking economic delegations between the two countries as a positive step towards the expansion of mutual cooperation and said that the leader of the two countries have continuously emphasized the need for the expansion of relations between the two sides especially in the agricultural sector.

Nikbakht further pointed to the 90 percent self-sufficiency of Iran in the food industry and stated: “Iran has been able to achieve good progress in the production of basic goods and important food products in recent years and the country is trying to exchange experiences and technical knowledge with friendly countries.”

Mentioning the 34 percent increase in trade between Iran and Malaysia from 2022 onwards, the official said: “It is possible to develop the level of trade between the two countries even further by assessing the needs of the two sides and supplying them.”

The Malaysia Foreign Minister for his art considered his trip to Iran as important and said: “meeting with Iranian officials is considered strategic for Malaysia and this trip can facilitate trade and economic relations between the two countries.”

Abdul Kadir noted that the expansion of relations with Iran in political, economic and trade areas is a main policy of the Malaysian government, adding that: "Malaysia intends to use Iran's experiences in the food industry to make up for the backwardness in ensuring food security."

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Photo: Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht (R) and Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir