Deputy Iranian Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who has travelled to Stockholm at the invitation of Swedish Deputy FM Annika Söder, also met with the European country’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström and Deputy Minister for EU Affairs and Trade Oscar Stenström.
Ms. Wallström underlined the importance of cooperation and collaborations between the two countries in various sector and reassured that the whole Europe was after implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Swedish Deputy FM Annika Söder in turn pointed to the historic visit of Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to Iran last year and voiced her country’s political determination to expand multilateral relations with Iran. She further stressed that Europe remained committed to defending and implementing Iran’s nuclear deal with six world powers.
Trade Deputy Minister Stenström, for his part, said Mr. Löfven’s visit to Tehran brought about a historic evolution in bilateral ties indicating that state officials and companies of Sweden are willing to continue and bolster economic and trade relations with Iran. He underlined that the Swedish government was making efforts to remove remaining banking and financial obstacles.
At the meetings, Iran’s Deputy FM Takht-Ravanchi maintained that post-JCPOA era offered an excellent opportunity for development of cooperation in various fields voicing optimism that common efforts will lead to implantation of documents and agreements which were signed during the last year visit to Tehran of the Swedish PM.
The official deemed it necessary to hold a Joint Economic Commission and emphasized the need to alleviate remaining hurdles to launching banking and financial collaborations.
He further enumerated several venues for cooperation between Iran and Sweden including environmental issues, anti-pollution, water management, renewable energy as well as waste management and recycling.
Deputy FM Takht-Ravanchi underscored that Iran and Europe could complement each other; an opportunity which needs to be seized.
The sides at the meetings, in addition to exchanging views on latest developments and regional issues, underlined the need to continue negotiations in various fields until further and stronger agreements are reached on political and diplomatic solutions.
During his visit, Majid Takht-Ravanchi delivered a speech entitled ‘Iran and Europe in post-JCPOA: Opportunities and Challenges’ at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) addressing a gathering of Swedish elite and political figures including Mr. Hans Blix, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mr. Eliasson, former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.
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