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Middle East and North Africa

Iran’s FM: Iran, Russia have great opportunities for co-operation

TEHRAN, December 11 (Itar-Tass) - Iran and Russia have a great potential to enhance co-operation, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in an interview to the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Tehran on a visit.

This visit is a part of a regular exchange of delegations and views between the two states, Afkham said, adding that the current negotiations were devoted to various aspects of co-operation in solving regional and international problems.

The agenda of Lavrov's visit includes a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif and other Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani.

One of the central issues under discussion is the agreement between Iran and the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) reached in Geneva at the end of November. Lavrov noted that these agreements aim to restore global confidence and allow the US and EU partners to gradually ease the sanctions imposed in the country.

Agenda items include also prospects of the Geneva II conference on Syria. Moscow consistently advocates the participation of Iran in the talks, as a country which has substantial influence on the processes in the region.

The parties are also to discuss Russian-Iranian co-operation in military-technical, trading and economic spheres as well as the prevention of drug trafficking in Afghanistan and preparations for the 2014 Caspian summit in Russia’s southern city of Astrakhan.

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Middle East and North Africa

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