Iran’s vice president for international affairs has wrapped up a tour of Latin America, extending presidential invitations to five of the region’s leaders to attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) August summit in Tehran.

Ali Saeedlou held talks with top officials of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador on the expansion of bilateral ties and international cooperation in addition to submitting the invitation letters from Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the leaders of these nations.

During his Cuba visit, Saeedlou signed a memorandum of understanding for expanding bilateral relations in diverse fields.

Iran’s vice president met and held talks with Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega while in Managua on the agenda of the next NAM summit as well as enhancing mutual collaborations. He emphasized that there are great potentials in Tehran-Managua ties, especially in the field of agriculture, including diary and food products.

Saeedlou told IRIB that he held extensive talks with top officials during his tour of Ecuador, including a detailed discussion with the country’s President Rafael Correa on the NAM leaders’ conference as well as collaborations among countries for global management, in efforts to counter hegemonic polarization.

While in Quito, the Iranian official also met with Ecuadorian ministers of agriculture, foreign affairs and oil, and discussed ways to further boost ties.

The presidential envoy described his trip to Bolivia as fruitful and added that the two sides held discussions on expanding bilateral relations, particularly in agricultural and economic spheres.

Furthermore, Saeedlou expressed his satisfaction with the alliance between the Islamic Republic and the five Latin American nations he toured, and voiced optimism that his visit to the region would help further enhance the friendly relations.

The 16th NAM summit will be held on August 26-31 in Tehran.

Iran will receive the rotating presidency of the movement from Egypt for three years during the Tehran summit.

Venezuela will host the 17th summit of the NAM in 2015.

NAM was founded in former Yugoslavia in 1961. The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the UN members and contain 55 percent of the world population.

NAM's purpose as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries.”

Photo: Iran’s Vice President for International Affairs Ali Saeedlou (L) with Bolivia’s Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera