Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- Bolivia’s President Evo Morales left Friday on a trip to Libya and Iran to reinforce new diplomatic ties made with those two countries, officials said.
He was to be in Libya on Saturday and Sunday, then in Iran on Monday and Tuesday, the Bolivian foreign ministry said.
La Paz and Tehran established diplomatic relations in September 2007 when Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad made an official trip to Bolivia to sign trade and energy accords.
Morales’ visit to Iran is to advance in existing links and in projects being implemented since last year.
Bolivia’s diplomatic relations with Libya were opened on August 13 this year with a memorandum of understanding between Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca and Libya’s director for American affairs, Mohamed Heimada Saad Matri.
Within Latin America, Bolivia has aligned itself with Venezuela and Cuba, and rejects US influence in the region.
President Evo Morales’ coming visit to Libya and Iran will reciprocate friendly gestures from governments of these nations, said Deputy Foreign Minister Hugo Fernandez.
The important thing here is that we are responding with reciprocity to visits by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and a Libyan delegation on occasion of the National Holiday and the recall referendum, Fernandez told Prensa Latina on Thursday.
In this regard, he highlighted friendship bond existing between Morales and his Libyan peer Muammar el Ghadaffi, with whom he is scheduled to meet over the weekend in Tripoli.
