Ahmadinejad invites Nigerian President to visit Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a message, has invited Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to visit Iran in the near future.

The message was delivered to President Jonathan by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Thursday.

Salehi and Jonathan discussed mutual ties between the two oil-rich countries and called for "enhancement of bilateral cooperation in political and economic fields," IRNA reported.

Salehi arrived in Abuja on Wednesday to attend a ministerial meeting of the Group of Eight Developing Countries (D8).

Addressing the meeting, he lauded the growing cooperation within the D8 since the establishment of the group in Turkey in 1997, and called for a faster implementation of the group's earlier agreements.

The Iranian minister urged expansion of cooperation among the D8 member states to various areas, including agriculture, energy, food security, industry and transportation.

Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Bangladesh and Indonesia are members of D8.

Salehi, whose country is set to take the rotating presidency of the D8 starting from 2013, said Tehran has proposed to host an expert meeting on the establishment of a joint investment fund for the group later in the month.


/Trend/