Mohammad Eskandari, Deputy Agriculture Minister and Special Envoy of the Iranian President Ahmedinejad, has confirmed the preparedness of The Gambia and Iran to forge bilateral cooperation. Mr Eskandari made this remark yesterday in an interview with journalists, at Kanilai Village in Foni, shortly after President Yahya Jammeh received the visiting Iranian delegation. He told journalists that the visit emanated from a meeting which President Jammeh had with his Iranian counterpart, during the Ordinary Session of the 7th Assembly of African Heads of State in the recently concluded African Union Banjul Summit. Mr Eskandari said the visit seeks to explore a string of cooperation, including agriculture and economy. “The Gambia has great potential in agriculture. We know The Gambia is an agricultural-oriented country. We have seen the potentiality and we hope that we can cooperate in the fields of livestocks, fisheries, and other areas,” he said. Iranian Deputy Agriculture Minister Eskandari said the visit aims to pave the way forward for the Iranian private sector to invest in The Gambia, adding that more bilateral meetings are in the pipeline. The delegation was accompanied to Kanilai by Yankuba Touray, Secretary of State for Agriculture, Lamin Kaba Bajo, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and senior government officials. The 28-member Iranian delegation will today leave Banjul for Tehran.