The document was signed by the countries’ officials in the presence of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the visiting chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović, during a ceremony at Tehran’s Sadabad Complex on Tuesday.

It envisages the expansion of cooperation among the countries’ enterprises and industrial parks.

The Bosnian statesman arrived in the Iranian capital earlier in the day at the head of a high-ranking political, economic, and cultural delegation on a four-day visit.

Rouhani said during the ceremony that, ever since Bosnia’s independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, Iran and Bosnia have maintained favorable bilateral relations.

He said there was peaceful coexistence among Muslims, Serbs, and Croats in the European country, which could function as a proper basis for peace and security there.

Rouhani referred to Islam as the religion of mercy, which he said invited the people of the world toward such coexistence, saying, “The promotion of moderate Islam can serve as a major cultural basis for European Muslims, including those of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“Radicalism … compromises our [Muslim] faith and presents it in the wrong light,” Izetbegovic said, after discussing the fight against terrorism with Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani.

“Bosniaks – Bosnian Muslims – and Iranians will work to show our faith in the right light. Islam is peace, reconciliation, light,” he added. 

The four-day visit this week, by a delegation which includes Trade Minister Mirko Sarovic and Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak, also saw the two countries sign a memorandum of understanding to increase bilateral investment in small and medium enterprises.

This is linked to a further proposal to loosen the rigid visa regime between the two countries, which Izetbegovic said “should be urgently addressed to facilitate the movement of capital”.

A joint commission to be held in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in December is to examine and finalize the list of the areas of cooperation between the two countries, the Iranian chief executive said.