Zarif says Iran ready for enduring economic co-op with Europe

EghtesadfOnline: Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif says that Iran, as a stable and reliable partner, is ready to have long lasting cooperation based on mutual interests with Europe, France in particular.

News ID: ۷۳۹۵۳۲

31 January 2017

Zarif made the remarks in a meeting with his visiting French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault who along with a 60-member delegation arrived in Tehran on Monday evening, IRNA reported.

Greeting the French delegation, the foreign minister said that their trip took place exactly 38 years after the day when the late Imam Khomeini returned home from exile in France on February 1, 1979, and ensured the victory of the Islamic Revolution on February 11.

The day falls on January 31 this year.

In the meeting, Zarif said Tehran and Paris have the same views about widening of all-out relations in different technological, cultural, political and economic areas as well as regional cooperation and fight against terrorism and extremism.

Zarif also talked of holding the first Iran-France joint economic commission that as he said was the outcome of the historic visit of the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Paris in January, 2016.

As Zarif noted, the first Iran-France joint economic commission is an indication of the joint political determination to develop bilateral ties, particularly the economic relations.

Zarif pointed to the value of trade exchange between the two countries which was more than 1.7 billion euros in the first 11 months of 2016 after the start of implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in January in the same year.

'The figure indicated that the trade exchange between the two countries has tripled in 2016 comparing with the previous year,' said the Iranian foreign minister.

He further hoped that the JCPOA could prepare due grounds for the two countries to promote economic relations.

Fortunately, with the security prevailing in Iran, the Iranian and French businesspersons can foster their cooperation, Zarif stressed.

Iran’s strategy for economic development is to focus on an inward economy and to widen good relations with other states in the future decades, the foreign minister concluded.