Iran’s ambassador to Armenia met with high-ranking officials of the northwestern neighbor this week to discuss the potential for expanding relations.
Kazem Sajjadi held a meeting with the newly-appointed President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan on Thursday to congratulate him on his new position, IRNA reported.
Highlighting “historical” and “friendly” relations between Iran and Armenia, he called on the two countries’ parliaments and parliamentary friendship groups to help enhance wide-ranging bilateral cooperation.
Sajjadi also proposed collaboration in the fields of energy, transport, trade, tourism and small- and medium-sized industries.
At the meeting’s closure, he invited Mirzoyan on behalf of Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani to visit Iran.
Mirzoyan expressed his side’s readiness to cooperate in all proposed sectors and vowed to travel to Iran as soon as possible.
Sajjadi later met with Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to explore ways of developing closer cooperation.
“We need to do all in our power to improve bilateral relations and arrange multiple deals between [the two countries’] state organizations and ministries,” he said.
The Iranian envoy also underlined the effective meetings of Iran-Armenia Economic Cooperation Commission, the latest of which was held in Yerevan last February.
Since 2013, over 20 memoranda of understanding have been signed between Iran and Armenia within the framework of the commission in such sectors as gas and electricity supply, environment, roads, transit and free trade zones.
Mnatsakanyan assured that the Armenian side would do its best to implement the agreements.
“In difficult international conditions, Iran and Armenia need to expand relations based on logic … and [by] taking mutual interests into account and preventing any disruption to bilateral ties,” he said.
Mnatsakanyan welcomed the offer of developing collaborations in such sectors as energy, transport, telecommunications and economic transaction.
