Iran’s Zarif to make official visit to Finland next week

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will make an official visit to Finland next week to hold talks with senior officials of the country.

Zarif is scheduled to hold talks with Finland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Timo Soini on 31 May, the Finnish government announced on its website on Tuesday.

It added that the two ministers’ discussions will focus on Tehran-Helsinki relations, regional developments in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, ties between the European Union and Iran, and other topical international issues.

The Iranian foreign minister will also sit down with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Speaker of Parliament Maria Lohela.

A large business delegation will accompany Zarif in his trip to Finland.

In January, on the sidelines of the 46th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the Iranian foreign minister and Finland’s president held a meeting.

Both Niinisto and Zarif commended last July’s nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the 5+1 group of countries, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Zarif and Niinisto also exchanged views about possible ways to solve the five-year-old conflict in Syria.