Belgrade, Oct 6, IRNA Visiting Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani after arrival in Belgrade visited this citys Bajrakli Mosque, Serbias largest one, and met and conferred with its congregational prayers Imam Mustafa Yusuf Sipahich.
Sipahich is meanwhile the Grand Mufti of Novi Vojvodina, a province in the north of Serbia, briefed Larijani and his accompanying delegation on the old history of the Bajrakli Mosque, the Muslim population of Serbia, and the activities of the mosque and the Halal food shops in that country.
Larijani for his part said in the meeting that the Bajrakli Mosque officials can visit Iran and get better acquainted with the ancient country.
The Iranian parliament speaker and his accompanying delegation who were accompanied with the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Belgrade after the meeting performed their evening and night time prayers at Bajrakli Mosque.
Larijani arrived in Belgrade at the top of a high ranking delegation and was received by his Serbian counterpart, the Iranian ambassador, and the staff members of the Iranian Embassy in Belgrade.
Larijani is scheduled to meet the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Parliament Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic.
The Iranian and Serbian officials discussed bilateral ties, particularly in economic and cultural fields, as well as regional and international developments.
The Bajrakli Mosque named in Turkish as Bayrakli, (bayrak is the Turkish word for flag and Bayrakli means with flag) is a mosque in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.
It is located in Gospodar Jevremova Street in the neighborhood of Dorcol. It was built around 1575 and is the only mosque in the city out of 273 mosques that had existed during the time of the Ottoman Empires rule of Serbia.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani arrived in Serbias capital city, Belgrade, Sunday morning at the head of a parliamentary delegation for talks with his counterpart and other high ranking Serbian officials.
Larijanis visit of Serbia is the first leg of his tour of three European countries, which also takes him to Geneva, Switzerland, where he is to attend the Inter-Parliamentary Union session.
Larijani is scheduled to give an address at the IPU meeting, in the presence of 30 parliament speakers and 20 vice speakers, and to have bilateral meetings with the parliamentarians of some member countries on regional and international developments during his two-day trip to Geneva.
On Wednesday, October 9 and after the end of the IPU meeting, Larijani heads for Croatia, where he will have meetings on various regional and international developments with that countrys parliamentarian and political officials.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the international organization of world parliaments and was established in 1889.