TEHRAN, July 19. /TASS/. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Tuesday, he hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit will be a turning point in the development of relations between the two countries.
"I hope that your official visit to Iran will be a turning point in terms of relations between the countries on issues of both regional and international agenda," he said at a meeting with Putin, which was aired by the Rossiya-24 television channel.
Raisi noted positive dynamic of the development of relations between Iran and Russia after the presidential meeting in Moscow in January. He also highly assesses joint efforts toward settlement of the Syrian crisis. "We have accumulated a vast experience working on the Syrian track. I think that thanks to our cooperation the region has become safer," he stressed. "Our countries are only declaring that they are fighting against terrorism, but our cooperation has demonstrated that we can achieve our goals."
The Russian, Iranian and Turkish leaders will gather for a summit of the Syrian settlement guarantor nations in the evening. The talks are expected to yield a joint statement. The leaders will also make a statement to the press.
The Astana Syrian peace process was initiated by Russia, Turkey and Iran. The three countries are the guarantors of the peace settlement to the Syrian conflict between Damascus and the Syrian opposition. Talks in this format kicked off in January 2017 in Kazakhstan’s then capital city of Astana, its eponymous name. Although the city was renamed Nur-Sultan in 2019, the negotiating format retained the name.