In the meetings of the deputy foreign minister with Belarusian officials on Monday, the ways to expand Tehran-Minsk cooperation were discussed.
Heading a delegation, Ebrahim Rahimpour made a visit to Belarus and met with the country's foreign minister and other officials to explore ways of enhancing bilateral relations, IRNA reported.
In the meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei, Rahimpour expressed content with the current state of bilateral political, economic and cultural relations and described the outlook for the relations as "promising".
The Belarusian foreign minister, for his part, referred to the good relations between the two states and said, "The Belarusian government attaches a great significance to its relations with Iran and is enthusiastic to boost economic ties with the country."
The deputy foreign minister for Asian and Pacific affairs also met with his Belarusian counterpart. The two officials discussed a range of issues, among them, bilateral and regional political cooperation.
In another development, Rahimpour met with the Belarusian deputy minister of industries.
In the meeting, attended by representatives of Iranian companies active in Belarus and the east European country's industrial companies, the ways to facilitate economic, business and investment cooperation between the two countries and how to eliminate the obstacles were discussed. The two sides also agreed to prepare the ground for setting up a joint economic commission.
Border Cooperation With Pakistan
Rahimpour also met with Pakistani high-ranking foreign ministry officials in Islamabad on Monday, ISNA reported. The necessity to increase bilateral cooperation in political, business, economic and security spheres was stressed in the meetings. The two countries' officials also discussed recent tensions along the joint border and agreed to take mutual steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Ties Not Affected
In a separate development, Ebrahim Rahimpour met with the Pakistani prime minister's senior advisor for national security and foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz. The Pakistani official said Iran-Pakistan border issues should not affect the "cordial" and "deep-rooted" relations between the two neighboring states, IRNA reported. A number of border police personnel were killed and wounded in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan in mid-October in a series of attacks by terrorists who had crossed the joint border into Iranian territory.
Iran has criticized its eastern neighbors for failing to curb cross-border terrorist attacks.
