MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. The changes in the world require the expansion of cooperation between Russia and Iran in different fields on the basis of the principle of sovereignty of the two countries, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hadi Soleimanpour said on Monday.
He was speaking at a conference “Development of Strategic Partnership between Russia and Iran.” “In Iran’s view, relations with Russia at the bilateral, regional and international levels are determined in the speech of spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Under this view, Russia and Iran and strong and independent states,” Soleimanpour said. “The political changes in Western Asia, in the Middle East and Eastern Europe make it possible to hold dialogue on the development of a model of relations based on the aforementioned principle,” he said.
Iran notes that Russia has a political will to develop bilateral relations. “Particularly, this proved after the presidential elections that were held in Russia and Iran not long ago. Since then, the presidents of our countries have met several times,” Soleimanpour said.
“The countries accumulated useful experience in developing relations in the field of security. It is necessary to concentrate efforts to develop contacts in this sphere,” he said.
“Economic relations in such areas as energy, transport, contacts in science, research and the environment can play a leading role in forming a new model of relations,” Soleimanpour said.
Contacts within the forums for developing the Russian-Iranian dialogue will continue and facilitate further development of relations in different spheres, he said.