Germany announced on Thursday that a delegation from its northwestern state of Lower Saxony will arrive in Tehran on Friday to hold talks with Iran’s state officials on issues of mutual interest.

Germany’s Embassy in Tehran in a statement said that the delegation will be led by Stephan Weil, the prime minister of Lower Saxony.

Weil during the three-day visit in Iran will hold talks with high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic. He will also participate in the opening ceremony of the Congress of Neurosurgeons in Tehran and will visit Tehran´s new International Neuroscience Institute (IWI).

The official has expressed hope that he would be able to build on “the traditionally good economic relations between the two countries,” the German Embassy statement added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran with its 80 million population is highly interesting to businesses from Lower Saxony. My task is to establish contacts and to open the doors,” he said.

Lower Saxony is the second largest state of the Federal Republic of Germany and has about 8 million inhabitants. Situated in northwestern Germany, it is home to important high-technology companies like Volkswagen and Continental. Further essential sectors of Lower Saxony´s economy are agricultural economy and technology, maritime economy, renewable energies (especially wind energy), and aviation.

Germany was the first country to send diplomats to Iran immediately after the finalization of talks between Iran and the P5+1 over a nuclear deal that envisaged the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return for certain steps that it would take to limit some aspects of its nuclear energy activities.

Germany’s Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Iran in late January at the head of a major business and diplomatic delegation.

Gabriel held several top-level meetings in Tehran to discuss ways to expansion mutual trade ties now that the sanctions against Iran have been lifted.