After concluding his trip to Libya, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has arrived in Tehran and met his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the latter’s presidential premises. In his first official trip to Iran he is also expected to meet heads of various industries particularly to deploy Iranian technology in several areas of the Bolivian economy.
Earlier in the morning, at the Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, he was received by Iran’s Minister of Industries and Mining, Ali Akbar Mehrabian. The trip is regarded as a reciprocation to Ahmadinejad’s last year’s visit. It must be recalled, during Ahmadinejad’s visit he pledged $1 billion to fund infrastructural developments and agricultural advancement for the following five years to Bolivia, and for the first time both nations established diplomatic ties.
Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian became Bolivia’s first President whom with an indigenous background, and he was voted to power in 2005 by a huge margin on an anti-US slogan. Subsequently, he brought oil and gas industry under state control forcing foreign companies to cough up more on profit sharing. Bolivia is regarded as the second largest in South America with natural gas reserves and a land with immense un-tapped oil reserves. Moreover, the country enjoys strategic ties with the Russian Oil company, Gasprom and the National Iranian Gas Company by retaining majority stake in every project.
In an interview given to a leading media news network a week ago, Morales had stated that he respected Iran on two grounds one being, the country’s technological innovations in the area of oil and gas production and the other, they do not sent troops to far away foreign soil to engage in war. Obviously maintaining his anti-US rhetoric which helped him to win the elections couple of years back.
But Analysts envisage Morales visit as a morale booster to Iran that is at the brink of confronting sanctions in the coming UN session. Iran is expected to cash in on the recent spat between the US and Russia vis-à-vis to Russia-Georgia war, besides the support of country’s growing allies in South America.