Iran, China Pledge to Further Develop Friendship, Cooperation Ties

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 18, 2002

Iran, China Pledge to Further Develop Friendship, Cooperation Ties

Iran and China pledged on Sunday to make further efforts to develop relations of friendship and cooperation, noting that good ties between the two countries are beneficial to the regional and world peace.
Iran's President Mohammad Khatami and visiting member of China's State Council Wu Yi made the remarks during their afternoon meeting on bilateral ties, especially in the trade and economic fields.

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Development of Iran-China Relations Important: Khatami

While extending his warm welcome to Wu Yi and her entourage, Khatami said that Iran has paid vital importance to the development of relations with China, which has made remarkable achievements in the economic and social fields in recent years.

As countries with ancient civilizations, both China and Iran have made great contributions to the mankind, he said, expressing hope that the two countries should make new efforts to develop their traditional friendship and cooperation to serve the regional and world peace.

There are great potentials in developing cooperation between China and Iran, especially in the trade and economic fields, the president stressed.

Iran Plays Important Role: Wuyi

For her part, Wu Yi, who arrived here on Saturday afternoon for a five-day visit, said that as an important nation in West Asia and the Gulf region, Iran has played an important role in regional and world affairs.

The ties between China and Iran have been developed in various fields, she said, adding China is ready to further develop economic cooperation with Iran so as to deepen their existing good relations of friendship and cooperation.

Sino-Iran Relations Promoted

Earlier in the day, Wu and Iranian Vice-president and Head of the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) Mohammad Sattarifar presided over the 11th China-Iran joint economic commission meeting.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed and exchanged views in detail on projects and matters concerning economic and trade cooperation and pledged to explore ways and potentials to promote their economic ties.

The bilateral trade between China and Iran has increased fast in recent years, with trade volume reaching some 3.3 billion U.S. dollars last year, several times higher than that some 10 years ago.

China and Iran

I. Political Relations

1. China and Iran established diplomatic relations on August 16, 1971.

2. Sino-Iranian friendly relations and cooperation are developing smoothly. Iranian leaders who visited China are Speaker of Iranian Islamic parliament Rafsanjani (June 1985); President Khamenei (May 1989); Speaker Karubi (December 1991); President Rafsanjani (September 1992); First Vice-President Habibi (August 1994). Chinese leaders who visited Iran are Chairman of National People's Congress Wan Li (May 1990); Premier Li Peng (July 1991); President Yang Shangkun (October 1991); Chairman of National People's Congress Qiao Shi (November 1996).

II. Trade and Economic Cooperation

China and Iran started trade relations in 1950. The trade volume in 1998 was $1.215 billion, among which there was $657 million of exports to Iran and $558 million of imports to China.

In 1999, the two-way trade volume was $1.348 billion, including $663 million of exports to Iran and $685 million of imports to China. The major products that China exports to Iran are mechanical and electrical equipments and products of chemical industry.

China's main imports from Iran are crude oil. Other imported goods are chrome ore, raw cotton, polyvinyl chloride, synthetic rubber, raisin and pistachio, etc. By the end of July 1999, the volume of bilateral trade is $635 million, among which there is $352 million of exports to Iran and $283 million of imports to China.

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