Tehran, March 7 (MRUD NEWS)—Mehrdad Bazrpash, speaking at the first Conference of Iran and West African countries (IRAN WAC) for the scientific and economic cooperation which was hosted by Tehran yesterday at IRIB International Conference Center, stated that the two countries need to be determined to develop bilateral cooperation. 

He noted that in this meeting we should gain achievements that will stimulate development of economic relations between Iran and Africa. 

He also pointed out that despite economic relations with West Africa, the volume of commercial transactions has not been satisfactory as expected. In the past years, many fields of cooperation such as infrastructural development, housing construction, power plants, refineries and extraterritorial agriculture have been taken into account. 

Iran Minister of Roads and Urban Development mentioned that Iran has sufficient experience, qualified workforce and standard productions in various fields including machineries, technical and engineering services, the refinery's infrastructure, transportation, housing, dam construction, urban development, tourism, rail and road development, airport construction and health care.

Emphasizing that Iran and Africa should take a more serious steps in investment and commercial development by provision of services, Bazarpash said that with the growth of technical and engineering companies, they can be effectively used in Africa in all sectors of oil, gas, mineral products, dam construction, power plants, extraterritorial agriculture, medicine and medical equipment. 

During this conference, 20 multilateral and bilateral agreements and MoUs between Iran and West African countries were signed in order to expand and deepen comprehensive economic cooperation.