Iran Assesses Business Ties with Algeria, Pakistan

Iran’s foreign ministry has hosted the 18th session of the Headquarters for the Coordination of Foreign Economic Relations, with the top on the agenda being the business ties with Algeria and Pakistan.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, Mehdi Safari, sat down with the representatives of relevant institutions to assess the current state of affairs with Algiers and Islamabad. In the meeting, Safari referred to the importance of Algeria in Africa and the very good working environment there, saying Iran considers this country as one of the important priorities.

“Focus on creating preferential tariffs, issuing technical and engineering services, cooperation in transportation and energy among the areas of interest in the joint cooperation between the two countries” he said.

The minister also emphasized on removing obstacles in joint cooperation with neighbors, adding that there must be technical and specialized meetings, detailed and professional planning and appropriate timing to gradually achieve the defined goals.

Mehdi Shushtri, Iran's Assistant Foreign Minister for West Asian and North African Affairs presented a report on the relations with Algeria. "Good cooperation documents have been signed between the two countries, and now there are 14 agreements and 25 memorandums of understanding covering various areas of banking, health, customs, industry and commerce, preferential trade, technology, knowledge base which we must work on implementing”, he stressed.

He also called for activating joint commissions between Iran and Algeria, the formation of specialized and technical committees, the removal of financial and banking barriers to improve the level of bilateral relations.

In the second part of the meeting, which was devoted to examining the aspects of cooperation with Pakistan, the Deputy Minister of Economic Diplomacy described the relations as friendly and strategic.
Seyyed Rasoul Mousavi, an assistant to Iran's foreign minister and the director-general of the Foreign Ministry's West Asia Department presented a report on ties with Pakistan.

“Now there is joint cooperation with Pakistan in 11 sectors and 88 economic issues, some of which require follow-up and provision of infrastructure, including in the field of free trade, organizing markets on border crossings, selling gas and petroleum products, and operating the gas pipeline to this country”, he said. - IRNA