Heading a high-level delegation including more than ten Iraqi cabinet ministers, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari is paying the first visit by an Iraqi premier to the Shiite Muslim-dominated nation since the ouster of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Al-Jaafari met with first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref at the Saad Abad Palace in the north of the capital Tehran.

In a news conference given after the official reception ceremony, Aref said the countries were working to build closer ties.

"We can compensate for the coldness of past relations in a short period of time and also considering the common points between two nations, we can become a role model for the region."

Al Jaafari said bilateral relations are expanding in a way that affects both peoples and countries.


"We therefore attach great importance to this and believe that the geographical reality combining us together, the fact that you are to our east and we are to your west, did not come about by virtue of any decision."