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Middle East and North Africa

Russian, Iranian foreign ministers discuss trade, economic co-operation

Iran's president is also due to meet the Russian minister shortly

© AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev

TEHRAN, December 11./ITAR-TASS/. - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif have held comprehensive talks in Tehran.

Lavrov recalled that Russian and Iranian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani, had met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan in autumn.

“Special attention was paid to the need to intensify bilateral co-operation in trade, economic and humanitarian spheres,” he said. “Another important aspect was the countries’ interaction in all regional issues.”

“We had a chance to see each other three times this month in different formats, in particular, for the purposes of reaching very important agreements on the Iranian nuclear program,” Lavrov told Zarif.

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Russian FM would like to see Iran as participant at Geneva II talks

A source from the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Russian diplomat had prepared this visit “for a long time”.

“It should not be ‘attached’ to the Geneva agreements between Iran and the six world powers (five permanents members of the UN Security Council and Germany),” the spokesman told journalists. “The Iranian side wants to discuss the whole range of issues from bilateral co-operation to regional and international problems.”

Lavrov visited Iran last year. The ongoing visit is the first after Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani has taken office. The president is also due to meet the Russian minister today.

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