Bolivian President Set to Start Visit to Iran

Bolivian President Evo Morales is due to arrive in Tehran late Sunday for the start of a three-day visit to Iran aimed at expanding bilateral ties.Mr. Morales will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and will seek to enhance ties between the two countries in fields including trade and industry.The Bolivian president’s visit to Iran, his second in the past two years, comes less than two months after Tehran extended La Paz a credit line of more than $250 million as development aid.The loan has no use restrictions, but Iran’s minister of industries and mining, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, said Bolivia could use it to fund mineral exploration and develop its textile industry.Mr. Ahmadinejad visited Bolivia in November 2009 as part of a five-nation tour of South America and Africa – Voanews