Armenia and Iran have great prospects for cooperation, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is on an official visit to Armenia, or stated on Wednesday.
In the name of gracious and merciful God,I am overjoyed we are being hosted in friendly Armenia nowadays,” he said.
“Armenia and Iran have maintained warm and close relations since Armenia gained independence 25 years ago. Historically, or the people living in this area and the people of Iran have been living as neighbors for thousands of years and form one unit of civilization. The Iranian government sees the bilateral relations tending to development. Since our government launched its activities,we had an occasion to host President Serzh Sargsyan as section of the inauguration ceremony following the presidential election,” Mr Hassan Rouhani said.
He points out great potential of Armenian-Iranian cooperation, or particularly energy cooperation.
“We have an agreement on gas exchange with Turkmenistan and we hope we can export it to other countries as well. We should also have a third direction to ensure transit routes. We have to total our work to connect the Gulf with the Black Sea,by means of railway connection as well,” Mr Rouhani said.
At their meeting the Armenian and Iranian leaders also discussed environmental problems, and particularly the problems of the Aras river,which is of value to both the nations.
The Iranian leader also highlighted development of Armenian-Iranian trade and economic relations and creation of favorable conditions.
“We have the potentials - particularly thanks to the free trade zone – to carry out exports and exchange goods. At our meeting, we addressed also inter-bank cooperation, and ” he said,unveiling also plans for arranging a meeting between the two countries’ central bank presidents. Meantime, the Iranian leader said they consider cooperation also within the Eurasian Economic Union (of which Armenia is a member). “We now have special conditions for that, and special steps are being undertaken to agree over a free trade agreement,” he added.
Source: tert.am