Senior Minister of State Maliki Osman who was visiting Iran, yesterday called on Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

They affirmed the warm and friendly relations between Singapore and Iran, and welcomed the good exchange of bilateral visits over the past year, a statement by Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Dr Maliki, the Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs, arrived in Iran for the five-day visit on Tuesday at the invitation of First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Morteza Samadi.

Dr Maliki yesterday met the president of the Iran Institute of Political and International Studies, Dr Seyed Sajjadpour, to discuss academic exchanges between Singapore and Iran.

While in Isfahan province on Thursday and Friday, the Senior Minister of State called on the province's Governor-General Rasoul Zargarpour and Isfahan City mayor Mehdi Jamalinejad, MFA said. During those meetings, he proposed that Singapore and Isfahan could learn from each other in the fields of heritage preservation and urban solutions.

Dr Maliki attended a round-table discussion with the Iran Strategic Council for Foreign Relations yesterday before leaving Teheran for Singapore.