Off the wire
• Year-end shopping spree lifts Taiwan's export orders in November  • CBA roundup: Shanghai back to winning track, Guangdong seals 15th straight victory  • UN allocates 3.2 mln USD for Somalia drought response  • Switzerland extends financial aid to UNRWA till 2020  • Chinese legislators applaud supervisory system reform  • Pakistani security team seizes 15 kg heroine in Karachi airport  • Abbas' decision to lift immunity from 5 MPs "unlawful": Palestinian groups  • Two major Greek dailies not printed due to strike  • E. China city reports new human H7N9 case  • Brunei plans "special economic zone" for more foreign investments: senior official  
You are here: 　 Home

Iranian President visits Armenia to expand cooperation

Xinhua, December 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani flew into Yerevan on Wednesday at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart to pursue furhter cooperation, Armenian president's press office announced.

The visit comes at an interesting moment when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Armenia's archenemy Azerbaijan last week.

Iran has largely held a neutral position in Armenia's longstanding border dispute with Azerbaijan and has developed friendly relations with both countries.

During President Rouhani's visit, Armenia and Iran signed a number of cooperation agreements in areas of medicine, culture, economy and others, aiming at further deepening their economic ties following the lifting of international sanctions against Iran, the press office said in a statement.

Since 2012, with the help of the Asian Development Bank, Armenia has built a 556 km high-speed road stretching from its border with Iran to the northern border with Georgia. Armenian government hopes the route will become a transit path for cargo from Iran to the Black Sea ports of Georgia.

The overall trade turnover between the two countries in 2015 was 280 million U.S. dollars. Despite having just a 42-km-long border with Iran, Armenia has maintained warm relations with Tehran since its independence in 1991. Enditem.