Iran, China start implementing 25-year strategic pact

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says a 25-year strategic partnership deal with China signed in March last year has come into effect as part of the outcome of a key visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

"We agreed to announce today as the date to begin implementing the comprehensive agreement on strategic partnership" between Iran and China, Amir-Abdollahian said, after concluding detailed discussions on Sino-Iranian cooperation with the Chinese foreign minister in China on Friday.

Iran and China signed the landmark 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership agreement in March last year in defiance of the US’s unilateral sanctions to strengthen long-standing economic and political alliance.

The deal officially documents the Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that had been announced during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to boost economic cooperation between the two countries for the next 25 years, and paves the way for Iran’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project stretching from East Asia to Europe.

During the Friday meeting with China's foreign minister, Amir-Abdollahian pointed to the significance of the 25-year partnership agreement signed between Tehran and Beijing and emphasized that the implementation of the document would be an important event and a fundamental change in relations.

He submitted an "important" written message by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi to President Xi Jinping.

Referring to the plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of political relations between the two countries, the Iranian foreign minister voiced Tehran's readiness to expand all-out relations with Beijing.

He hailed China's constructive cooperation with Iran in providing more than 110 million doses of coronavirus vaccines.

Iran’s foreign minister expressed hope that the opening of China's consulate general in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas would facilitate bilateral trade cooperation.

The top Iranian diplomat outlined the latest state of bilateral cooperation in various fields and said Tehran is resolved to implement all infrastructure agreements with Beijing.

He said extensive cooperation with neighbors and friendly countries in the region is among priorities of Iran's foreign policy and added that the Islamic Republic would continue to play a constructive role in regional developments, including maintaining and increasing security of energy transfer.

He also pointed to the importance of cultural relations and the common capacities of the ancient civilizations of Iran and China and said the Iranian artists' keenness to develop bilateral cooperation would be a valuable opportunity to take advantage of such a capacity.

The Chinese foreign minister, for his part, said Beijing completely supports Iran’s wise stance toward the bullying policies of the United States and also its position on the ongoing talks with the five remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement, urging Washington to make up for the past mistake in withdrawing from the deal.

Wang said China is ready to improve bilateral cooperation in monetary, energy, banking and cultural fields despite unlawful sanctions against Tehran.