Iranian, Chinese labor ministers meet in Beijing

Khaleqi said that visits of the Iranian and Chinese high-ranking officials to the countries of one another indicate intent of them to strengthen the bilateral ties.

Describing Iran-China trend of commerce and economic cooperation as developing, he noted that the volume of commerce trades of the two countries exceeded $7b in 2004, and their ties have entered a new stage.

He also said that Iran and China have had good cooperation on labor and social affairs since signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by their ministries of labor in 2001.

Given the young population of Iran and huge population of China, the two countries could exchange experiences on issues of unemployment and job opportunities generation, the Iranian minister said, adding, establishment of job opportunities in small and medium industries, rural and agriculture sectors, as well as technical and vocational training are among important grounds of cooperation.

He believes that the technical and vocational training is a good resolution to alleviate the unemployment problem, and the two countries could form a joint working group to exchange experiences in this regard. “The joint working group could also negotiate on small and household jobs as well as on how to control the unemployment”, Khaleqi stated.

On his part, Zheng Silin said that visit of the Iranian delegation will deepen mutual cooperation more than ever. He added that signing the MOU by the two ministries in this trip will open a new chapter in their bilateral ties. 

The two ministers also talked about the measures of their countries taken to decline unemployment and increase job opportunities in the recent years, further stressing the mutual cooperation on all sections of labor and social affairs.

Khaleqi heading a delegation arrived in Beijing on Monday to pay a four-day visit to the country. He is due to pay also a visit to Chinese technical installations of job generation and to hold talks with the activists of labor and blue-collar workers issues in industrial city of Shanghai. 

FK/MA

END

MNA