Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Bangladesh Wednesday

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will come to Bangladesh on Wednesday from Beijing.

A senior official at Bangladesh’s foreign office told bdnews24.com that he would call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and brief her about the nuclear agreement, and discuss ways to boost bilateral ties.

He will also hold a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali during the ‘one-day’ visit.

Dhaka expects the visit would usher in a ‘new beginning’ in the ‘brotherly’ relations, particularly in diplomatic, economic and trade fronts, which witnessed a hiatus during international sanctions that crippled the oil and gas rich Iran’s economy.

Under a deal, agreed in July, sanctions imposed by the US, EU and the UN will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing to long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.

Iran calls this agreement ‘win-win’ as it believed both sides addressed each other’s concern.

Beijing, which had long railed against unilateral sanctions by the US and Europe, announced Zarif’s first visit to China on Tuesday following the negotiation of the deal.

China and Iran have close diplomatic, economic, trade and energy ties.

Tehran’s Ambassador in Dhaka Abbas Vaezi at a briefing to diplomatic correspondents on Sep 1 said Iran was ready to have cooperation and trade with Bangladesh in many fields now.

“We will be able to help Bangladesh in many ways,” he had said, suggesting that Tehran could buy jute, clothes and agricultural products from Bangladesh and export oil, natural gas and petrochemicals.

He had also stressed on energy and power sector cooperation, and said that Bangladesh could discuss with New Delhi to get gas from a pipeline, which was to be rolled out from Tehran via Pakistan.