Rouhani received Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday after the latter arrived to Tehran’s Palace of Sadabad on Friday evening as part of an ongoing tour of the Middle East region.
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President Hassan Rouhani brings the case to Europe this week for Iran as a potential investment bonanza, after the lifting of financial sanctions brought his country of 80 million people back into the world of global commerce.
“China has always stood by the side of the Iranian nation during hard days”, Rouhani said, in comments posted on his official website. The two countries agreed to increase trade by more than 10 times to $600 billion (Rs 40.5 lakh crore) over the next ten years.
The amount of trade between Iran and China was about $52 billion in 2014 but dropped to $42 billion past year due to falls in oil prices and sanctions against Iran, the Iran State News Agency reported Friday.
“Campaign against terrorism, extremism, violence and fighting against differences that have entangled the region were among issues discussed between the two sides”, President Rouhani said at a joint press conference with Xi in Tehran today.
Chinese President Xi’s visit to Iran came after a stop in Saudi Arabia earlier in the week during that country’s heightened tensions with Iran.
The top leadership in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran assented to joining China’s ambitious Silk Road and Belt project during Xi’s trip.
Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi’s signature foreign policy initiative – known as “One Belt One Road” – touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.
Iran seeks closer ties with China and “has never trusted the West”, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Iran’s Supreme Leader told Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit that Iran wished to expand ties with “more independent countries”, adding the United States was “not honest” in the fight against terrorism in the region. “I believe that Iran and China can boost relations in the field of handicraft as well”, Soltanifar concluded.
Xi called on the two countries to build a long-term and stable cooperative relationship in energy area, and carry out cooperation in railway, highway, port, mining, communications, engineering machinery and infrastructure construction.
China had been one of the nations to participate in JCPOA.
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Iran plans to buy 114 aircraft from European plane maker Airbus Group SE, Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi said Sunday, according to local media reports.
