Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed on Friday ways of deepening bilateral commercial ties.
The Armenian "Massispost" website said that Raeisi and Pashinyan met on the sidelines of a Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Tajikistan.
The Armenian government’s press office said Pashinyan and Raeisi discussed, among other things, ways of “organizing unfettered cargo shipments between the two countries” as well as “processes taking place in the region.” It gave no details.
In the meeting with the Prime Minister of Armenia, Raeisi stressed the need to increase the level of economic relations between Iran and Armenia. The Iranian president also called for the Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation to become more active. He suggested that Yerevan and Tehran set up joint special working groups to address barriers to implementing joint economic projects.
It was Pashinyan’s second meeting with Raeisi in less than two months. The two men held their first face-to-face talks in early August when the Armenian premier visited Tehran to attend Raeisi’s swearing-in ceremony held in the Iranian parliament.
During those talks, Pashinyan reaffirmed his government’s readiness to have Iranian companies participate in its plans to refurbish Armenian highways leading to the Islamic Republic. The two governments set up in May a working group tasked with looking into practical aspects of such participation.
KI/PR; FNA14000627000654