By Moyiga Nduru
HARARE, Mar 13 1999 (IPS)

Iran is forging closer ties with Africa, 20 years after the Islamic clerics who overthrew the Shah seized power in the Persian Gulf.

“Before the revolution,” says the Iranian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Behrooz Kamalvandi, “Iran didn’t have any embassy in Africa except in South Africa where the Shah regime had invested heavily in the oil refinery industry.”

“Now we have more than 20 embassies, most of them in Sub- Saharan Africa,” he says.

Iran’s closer ties with Africa heightened after the 1980-1988 Persian Gulf War, especially during the reign of the moderate Shia Muslim President Mohammad Khatami.

Since his election two years ago, Khatami has adopted a moderate policy, aimed at opening up Iran to the outside world.

For example, this week Khatami is making an historic three- day trip to Europe, which will include meetings with the Pope and the Italian President.

In Africa, Iran, through its embassies, says Kamalvandi, is also forging relations with the African people, through its participation in a number of projects.

In Zimbabwe, Iran runs the multi-million Modezone Textile Factory, which employs 3,000 people in Chitungwiza, the satellite city of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.

“A few months ago, Iran injected a total of 193 million Zimbabwe dollars (5.25 million US Dollars) into the factory,” Kamalvandi says.

Iran, with a population of 60 million people, also is involved in a 1.2-billion-US-Dollar oil refinery project in the Mozambican Port of Beira.

The refinery, which is still under a feasibility study, will serve the countries in the region, like Mozambique and land- locked Zimbabwe.

Oil makes up about 70 of Iran’s export revenue. “And since 1979, there have been no foreigners working in the Iranian oil industry,” Kamalvandi says.

“Every work there is handled by Iranians,” he says. “This is why we are helping Libya in its oil industry.”

Iran is involved in Egypt, Sudan, Guinea-Conakry and Sierra Leone in projects ranging from agriculture to assembling tractors.

“Iran is one of the most important producers of tractors in the world,” Kamalvandi says. “We have offered to Zimbabwe to establish an assembly line to export tractors to the region.”

Like many African countries, agriculture is a major sector in Iran’s economy. Nearly all the dry farming and 80 percent of the irrigated farming in Iran is devoted to the cultivation of wheat and barley.

The main agricultural crops in Iran are wheat, barley and rice with an annual production of about 20 million tonnes.

Iran also produces potatoes, cotton, tea, citrus fruits, dates, maize, sugar beet, green vegetables, almonds and a considerable amount of various fruits.

Tehran’s budget is too tight to spread around the continent and the government is looking for partners to help it cultivate economic relations in Africa.

“The most important thing is to attract the private sector of Iran to invest in Africa,” says Kamalvandi. About 30 Iranian companies participated in a trade fair in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire last month.

To attract investors, the Iranian envoy says, Iranian embassies also have to fight the negative stereotypes of Africa, portrayed in Iran. “In Iran,” he says, “Africa is known by its wars, famine and insecurity.”

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