Turkey invites Zarif to attend trilateral meeting

Ankara has officially invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend a tripartite conference between Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey to be held in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered the invitation in a telephone conversation on Friday, in which he congratulated Zarif on his endorsement as Iran’s foreign minister.

Davutoglu called for sustained cooperation and an expansion of bilateral ties between Tehran and Ankara.

Zarif, for his part, stressed the significance of the strategic Iran-Turkey relations and welcomed broader bilateral cooperation, particularly on regional issues.

The ministers also touched on the crisis in Egypt and called on regional countries to hold talks to help end the deadly unrest in the North African country through a peaceful solution.

Separately, Zarif held talks with his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, who also invited the Iranian official to visit his country.

Bildt said Stockholm was willing to hold serious talks with Tehran.

The two sides also underscored the need for peaceful solutions to the crises in the Middle East.