Iran’s Parliament Speaker Leaves for Tunis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, heading a parliamentary delegation, left for the Tunisian capital, Tunis, on Thursday evening.
Speaking to reporters prior to leaving Tehran, Larijani said the trip will take place at the invitation of the speaker of Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar.
“Tunisia was a pioneer country in the regional uprisings that took place in recent years,” Larijani said. “Their (Tunisia’s) leaders have made significant efforts to draft a new constitution and form a democratic government and have been successful in this regard.”
He underlined that Iran stood by the Tunisian people and supported their movement from its outset.
Larijani described the level of political relations between Iran and Tunisia as good. However, he pointed to the low level of trade exchanges between the two countries and expressed the hope that his trip would pave the way for expansion of mutual trade ties.
Iranian parliamentarians Mansour Haghighatpour, Laleh Eftekhari and Seyyed Sahrif Hosseini accompany Larijani in his two-day Tunisia visit.
In a message to Ben Jaafar on Sunday, February 2, Larijani had hailed the ratification of the new constitution as a “great success” and a “major step towards the establishment of democracy” and the beginning of a “new chapter” in the process of stabilizing the achievements of the historical revolution of the Tunisian nation.
Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly overwhelmingly passed a new constitution in late January after two years of bargaining between the country’s political parties.
Out of the 216-member constituent assembly, 200 people voted in favor of the charter. The new Tunisian Constitution’s completion has come three years after the overthrow of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
