Beirut, Lebanon

On Monday, the 6th of April 2008, Iran’s Ambassador Mohammed Reda Sheibani visited the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate where he was received by His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics. During the meeting which lasted for 45 minutes, His Excellency Msgr. Vartan Ashkarian was present.
After the Easter greetings, the conversations went about the current political, economic and social critical conditions in Lebanon as a result of the postponed presidential elections.
His Beatitude expressed his views about dealing with the presidential elections as a point of agreement among the different Lebanese communities, emphasizing the importance of dialogue between them.
In his turn, the Ambassador explained that he has put every effort alongside other Arab countries in favor of the presidential elections in Lebanon that will bring the country out of its current political, economic and social crisis.
This visit was also an occasion to talk about the Armenian community in Iran and the important role that it has always played in the prosperity and progress of the country. The Ambassador expressed his great appreciation of the Armenians in general, and the Iranian Armenians in particular that have been living in Iran as communities ever since the 17th century, reassuring that they are the object of attention of the Iranian authorities.
In the filed of the progress of Christian-Muslim inter-religious dialogue, His Beatitude referred to the Iran-Vatican relations and invited the Ambassador to Vatican to reassure that tie.
At the end of the meeting, His Beatitude thanked the ambassador for his visit, expressing words of appreciation about the poured efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the presidential elections in Lebanon.