MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. The process of drafting the text of a comprehensive cooperation agreement between Russia and Iran is now at the final amendment stage, Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department, told TASS on Friday.
"Both sides are determined to sign it as soon as [it] is ready. The Iranian partners have sent us their amendments; we have been exchanging [them] for the past year, [and] we have sent our revisions and considerations [to them]. Now we are waiting for them to put it down on paper. After that, we will compile everything into a single document, then we will report to the leadership and the president will decide when and how [it will be signed]," the diplomat said.
There has been no delay in the process, the diplomat stressed. "What’s happening is the routine legal process of agreeing on [the content of] a serious document, [which will be] a 20-year strategic agreement," Kabulov noted.
Earlier, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said that Iran expects the comprehensive cooperation agreement between Tehran and Moscow to be signed this year.