Iranian Minister of Labor, Cooperatives and Social Welfare expressed Iran’s readiness to cooperate with Armenia.
Seyyed Sowlat Mortazavi made the remarks in a meeting with Gnel Sanosyan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures in Yerevan, on Monday.
Iran and Armenia always enjoy very good friendly relations based on mutual respect and good neighborliness, he underlined.
Armenia’s role in the development of foreign relations and access to the Eurasian Union market is of prime importance, he added.
Various projects in the fields of construction, road, tunnel digging, dam construction, urban development, energy infrastructure as well as technical and engineering services are among spheres of cooperation, he further noted.
The Armenian minister, for his part, said that the Armenian government pays special attention to the development of cooperation with the Islamic Republic in its five-year plan.
It was earlier reported that, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has highlighted the significance of bilateral ties with neighboring Armenia, insisting that Tehran considers Armenia’s security as that of its own.
“Our policy revolves around respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity [of other nations],” said the top Iranian diplomat on Friday during a ceremony inaugurating the Islamic Republic’s Consulate General in the southern Armenian city of Kapan, emphasizing that the Iranian Embassy in Yerevan will make their best efforts to expand economic cooperation between the two nations.
The foreign minister also expressed pleasure over establishment of the diplomatic mission and thanked his colleagues at the Iranian foreign ministry and its diplomats in Armenia for their contribution to the development.
Iran’s decision to open the new diplomatic mission points to the “time-honored” quality of the ties between to countries, Amir-Abdollahian noted, announcing the Islamic Republic’s readiness for hosting an Armenian consulate general in the key northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz.
Turning to the issue of the bilateral economic ties, the official also added, “We consider Armenia to be an important north-south transit route,” insisting that Tehran would try to facilitate and expedite transportation of people and commodities across the conduit.
Armenian FM: Iran our consistent ‘partner’
For his part, Amir-Abdollahian’s Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, said he could “confidently” describe the opening of the Iranian Consulate General as an important development towards enhancement of mutual relations.
“Today is an important day for Iran-Armenia’s historical and age-old ties as well as the good-neighborliness [that exists] between the countries,” he further underlined.
Describing the 30-year-old ties between Tehran and Yerevan as “strategic,” Mirzoyan then emphasized, “I am positive that much effort is going to be expended from now on towards [boosting the] beneficial and advantageous [nature of the] relations,” between the countries.
He also welcomed Tehran’s intention to allow opening of an Armenian diplomatic mission in Tabriz, reiterating that “Iran has always been and will continue to be Armenia’s partner.”
