Tehran hopes that a meeting between the Russian and Iranian presidents can be held in the near future in any of two capitals in order to confirm the privileged bilateral relations of strategic cooperation, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian reported on Wednesday, TASS reports.
"We hope that in the near future our presidents can hold a meeting in one of our capitals," he noted. Mutual agreement on this demonstrates that our relations are of strategic and privileged nature. In our foreign policy, Moscow is a priority, and we consider Russia as our strategic partner."
The head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry reported that the sides agreed to start discussing the strategic partnership document in the near future and Tehran is ready to provide its suggestions in writing. "It will be a new roadmap of our long-term bilateral cooperation," he said.
"It is necessary to identify and eliminate all hurdles to ensure a qualitative breakthrough in our relations, particularly in the commercial-economic sphere. Over 70% of our citizens have already been vaccinated, since we do not see any obstacles for our entrepreneurs’ arrival in Russia to promote mutual contacts and increase further economic activity".
According to him, Iran considers it a priority to expand and deepen its commercial-economic relations with Russia. "Both sides possess significant economic potential, on the basis of which it is possible to achieve a breakthrough growth in turnover in the bilateral trade for the benefit of our people," he concluded.
Moscow and Tehran have discussed the prospects of enhancing international cooperation over Afghanistan’s post-war reconstruction, Lavrov reported.
"We proceed from the need to involve the relevant international organizations in resolving the entire spectrum of humanitarian problems. We have been witnessing serious concrete steps in this direction both from international structures and from neighboring countries. We welcome the large and significant contribution of Iran, which has sheltered millions of Afghan refugees. In this context, the prospects for enhancing regional and international cooperation to promote the post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan have been discussed.
Lavrov noted that Moscow and Tehran have coinciding initiatives over the reconstruction of Afghanistan. "Today we talked about how to optimally coordinate our efforts to implement them," he added.
Besides, Moscow and Tehran have agreed to take measures to speed up the delivery of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to Iran, as well as consider the possibility of launching its production in the Islamic republic as soon as possible, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Wednesday.
"A contract was signed for the delivery of Sputnik V to Iran. We have agreed to take measures to speed up its implementation. We also looked into the possibility of organizing as soon as possible the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in the Islamic Republic of Iran," the top diplomat said.
According to Lavrov, the sides are interested in combining forces to combat the spread of coronavirus. "Our respective agencies are working actively on this," Lavrov noted.
