Relations With Iran
Iran's top diplomat in Bolivia said his country would open two low-cost public health clinics in the country, which is South America's poorest. Iranian business attache Hojjatollah Soltani said his country planned to use Bolivia as a base for future Red Crescent medical programmes across the continent.
On a visit to Iran, Morales also secured Iranian assistance in promotion of hydrocarbon development. An Iranian commission would help Bolivia to study different options of promoting petro-chemistry and agribusiness production, as well as seek to quicken an investment of about $1.1 billion that Iranian President Ahmadnenijad promised on his visit to Bolivia in September, 2007. Bolivia described the trip as an attempt to reach out to other states "rejected by the international community." Morales added that the two are as "two friendly and revolutionary countries" that are strengthening ties; adding that Iran's efforts to provide economic and political backing would "support the peasant struggle in Latin America." Iran's investments would boost bilateral economic and agricultural ties, from milk processing plants, to television and radio stations, including an agreement to provide Bolivian state television with Spanish-language programming, to funding hydroelectric exploration. Reports also indicated an interest in Bolivia's reserves of uranium and lithium for use in Iranian nuclear projects. Morales previously joked that he too is a part of the "axis of evil."
During another visit to Iran in 2010, together with the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad he said there was a need to "strengthen the resistance front formed by independent and freedom-seeking nations to fight against imperialism and global hegemony."
Read more about this topic: Foreign Policy Of Evo Morales
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