Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s President has received a red carpet welcome from his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto on Wednesday, July 12, as he kickstarts his three-country African tour.
Raisi’s visit to Africa, will also take him to Uganda and Zimbabwe. This will be the first visit by an Iranian president to the continent in over a decade, and it signifies their willingness to diversify economic ties, in the face of crushing U.S. sanctions.
Iran had stepped up its diplomatic outreach to still developing world countries after Donald Trump, the former U.S. President, rejected a nuclear pact in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.
Prior to this African tour, President Raisi had in June, visited three Latin American countries to bolster support with allies also crippled by U.S. sanctions.
Iran’s foreign ministry expects that its trade with African countries will skyrocket over $2 billion this year.
However, a comparative figure for 2022 was not provided for this analysis.
Raisi had been welcomed by an honour guard at Kenya’s presidential palace before joining his counterpart, Ruto, for a meeting.
Raisi’s visit to Kenya, East Africa’s economic powerhouse, will give the two countries an opportunity to evaluate and re-energise their bilateral relations for the mutual benefit of their country and people.
After Kenya, Raisi is expected to visit Uganda to discuss trade and bilateral relations with President Yoweri Museveni, and then finally, fly to Zimbabwe.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been the last Iranian President to visit Africa in 2013.
