Ali Shamkhani and New Zealand Foreign Minister Mr. Murray McCully met on Saturday evening in the SNSC venue; Mr. McCully heads a delegation of his country to Tehran.
Shamkhani believed that nuclear deal with world powers provided an important basis of trust between Iran and ‘non-hostile’ countries; “however, despite the good will displayed by the Islamic Republic of Iran in implementing JCPOA and effective contribution of some parties to the deal in accelerating the implementation, the US dubious moves have been source of major concern for Iranians,” he said NZ official. “Iran and New Zealand have similar positions in a host of issues including nuclear disarmament, fighting drug trafficking, and climate change; there is a general ground for restoring bilateral relations to status quo ante.”
“Iran has found potential economic opportunities after hitting the nuclear deal with the west which would bring about boom to bilateral relations with major Asian countries,” Mr. Shamkhani told his guest. “New Zealand’s contribution to anti-ISIL coalition and membership of UN Security Council would contribute to global fight against extremism which is the greatest threat to international security; a strong global will should address the roots of terrorism,” he added.
“We believed double-standards would achieve nothing in dealing with terrorism; in Syrian context, we believe in a totally Syrian dialogue to decide and implement Syrian national will; the international community has largely been silent about genocide underway in Yemen; Al-Qaeda has proliferated itself in Yemen, women and children had been killed and the country’s infrastructure had been devastated, and the public languish in poverty,” Shamkhani emphasized.
Mr. McCully for his part voiced his country’s willingness to improve relations with Iran in all fields of bilateral interest; “Iran is a powerful country in the region; New Zealand welcomes boosting its political, economic, and security relations with the country, and would cooperate with Iran in fighting terrorism,” he added.
“We are serious in fighting terrorism and have joined the coalition, since we have felt the threat of terrorism and found the necessity to tackle the problem sooner than later,” Mr. McCully told the meeting.
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