Iranian president congratulates Evo Morales
• Also has telephone conversation with President Fidel Castro

MADRID, January 4 (Notimex).—Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, today congratulated his counterpart-elect of Bolivia, who responded by expressing his desire for a bilateral meeting.

Ahmadinejad extended his congratulations to Morales in a telephone conversation that coincided with another that he made to President Fidel Castro of Cuba, to whom he expressed a desire to cooperate with the South American governments.

"Fortunately, the Bolivian nation has been the winner in the recent elections and we feel participants of the joy of the people of Bolivia," affirmed the Iranian leader.

Morales thanked the Iranian president for his phone call and invited him to visit Bolivia for his investiture ceremony on January 22, according to the IRNA news agency.

He also expressed a desire to meet with Ahmadinejad as soon as possible to discuss various issues.

In his separate phone call to the Cuban President Fidel Castro, Ahmadinejad affirmed his disposition to cooperate with popular governments, particularly those of South America, as reported in another dispatch from the Iranian news agency. The president of Iran thanked the Cuban leader for the island’s positive position on Tehran’s nuclear program and his politics of resistance.

He emphasized that continued friendly relations between Iran and Cuba would be of interest to both states.