Yerevan, Tehran determined to enhance ties
Armenia’s Prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Iran is an opportunity for both sides to strengthen their mutual strategic relationship more than ever.
The Armenian premier, heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, entered Iran on Tuesday at the official invitation of President Ebrahim Raisi. The two sides are going to hold talks and then, high-ranking delegations will discuss ways to expand cooperation. It is expected that Armenia and Iran sign some documents and memoranda of understanding on different fields of collaboration.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Political Affairs to Iran's President Mohammad Jamshidi told IRNA on Monday that the Armenian premier had been invited to visit the Islamic country to hold bilateral talks with the Iranian president, adding that Armenia is considered one of the important countries of the Caucasus region in terms of geopolitical affairs.
The Islamic Republic welcomes visits by officials of other countries to Iran, seeing the trips as a step to improve ties with other states, he added.
Political analysts believe that today’s visit is one of the positive results of the diplomatic efforts of the Raisi administration in developing relationships with regional nations.
Moreover, experts are of the opinion that the trip can have another impact, which could be consultations for the halt of hostility between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan because Tehran has time and again emphasized that the Islamic Republic opposes any change of borderlines in the Caucasus region, calling for finding a diplomatic solution for the long-term enmity between Yerevan and Baku.
On economic cooperation between Armenia and Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian expressed satisfaction with the increase in trade ties, which experienced more than 43.5 percent growth in the current year in comparison to the same period last year.
It is expected that the Armenian and Iranian authorities will discuss the expansion of economic and trade exchanges to increase it to the outlook of 700 million dollars per annum.
Armenia and Iran have already held negotiations to cooperate on different projects, including the establishment of a car-manufacturing line in Armenia as well as talks on trade tariffs for Iranian products. At present, the two countries are bartering gas and electricity and Armenia’s Ministry of Economy plans to pave the way for bartering other commodities.
Analysts underlined that given the historical and cultural background of both friendly countries, the time is ripe for the enhancement of strategic political and economic cooperation between Yerevan and Tehran.