Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and visiting Speaker of Russia’s State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin agreed on a framework to boost bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas, namely trade.
Speaking in a meeting with the senior Russia lawmaker on Monday in Tehran, Larijani said, "Based on the agreed framework, we will improve parliamentary cooperation to help expand bilateral trade and diplomatic consultations under a joint committee set up by the two parliaments to help establish sustainable security and curb drug trafficking."
Volodin said the regular two-way parliamentary meetings have helped foster understanding over how to best advance the anti-narcotics campaign, ISNA reported.
"However, the development of economic ties is our primary focus," the Russian speaker noted.
In an interview prior to the meeting, Volodin underscored the necessity of bolstering bilateral relations in the face of hostile policies of the United States -- the common adversary of Iran and Russia.
"Sanctions and sanctions lists are an attempt to contain Russia’s development. This is similar to an attempt to contain Iran’s development when such decisions were made against Iran," Volodin said when asked about new US sanctions against Moscow and Tehran, Tass News Agency reported.
Moscow believes "it is necessary to build bilateral relations, above all, on the principles of friendship, mutual respect, the absence of double standards and the principles of non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states. The US does not adhere to such principles and the sanctions policy can hardly contribute to the development of relations."
"For its part, Russia has emphasized the need to build a dialogue and friendly relations. That’s the bottom line of our foreign policy with regard to the US and other countries," Volodin concluded.
He was scheduled to meet President Hassan Rouhani and open a plenary meeting of the Russia-Iran Business Forum.
