FNA - Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, in a move to further strengthen bilateral parliamentary ties between Tehran and Abidjan, sent a letter of invitation to Ivory Coast�s President of Senate Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio.

Iran's Ambassador to Ivory Coast Mansour Shakibmehr, in a Thursday meeting in Abidjan, submitted the official invitation letter of Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani to Ivory Coast�s President of Senate Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio.

During the meeting, the Ivorian top senator praised Iran�s rich culture and great civilization, and said that he will visit Iran in the near future and hold talks with Parliament Speaker and other officials of the country.

Ahoussou-Kouadio underlined that strengthening bilateral ties, especially parliamentary relations, and establishment of parliamentary friendship groups in the two countries will be among the main agenda of his visit to Tehran.

Last year, Ivory Coast's Transport Minister Amadou Kone, in a meeting with Director General of Iranian Foreign Ministry's Africa Department, asked for Tehran�s help to renovate his country�s public transport sector.

In relevant remarks two years ago, Shakibmehr met with General Manager of Ivory Coast's Investment Promotion Center Emmanuel Essis where the two sides underlined the need for further expansion of trade ties between the two countries.

During the meeting in Abidjan, the Iranian ambassador and the Ivory Coast's official discussed bolstering of mutual cooperation between Iran and Ivory Coast in the fields of energy, auto industry, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, agriculture and food industry.

The Ivorian official, for his part, invited top officials of the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran (OIETAI) to visit the country to discuss economic cooperation.

"Ivory Coast has good potential for investment in the fields of electricity, informatics, mining, telecommunication, oil and pharmaceutical industry," the official added.

Essis noted that Ivory Coast is ready to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran to develop ties.