TEHRAN – Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani who had visited Hanoi held talks on Tuesday with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, discussing political and economic ties.

Larijani said it is necessary that the two countries strengthen economic and political relations, noting that there are good opportunities for expansion of cooperation in maritime field.

“Tehran and Hanoi should make progress in economic cooperation as they have already done in political ties for 45 years,” Fars news agency quoted Larijani as saying.

“Iran seeks to invest in the Makran region which is a good investment opportunity for Vietnam,” he added.

Phuc said that Iran and Vietnam have many capacities to expand cooperation.

He noted that Vietnam seeks to expand ties with Iran in the area of telecommunications. The Vietnamese prime minister also called for expansion of banking ties.

The prime minister said Vietnam attaches great importance to cooperation in the areas of petrochemicals, telecommunications and electricity.

In March 2016 President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran and Hanoi have agreed to raise the volume of trade exchanges to $2b in the next five years.

“The two countries enjoy a very good potential that can be developed after the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic. We have decided to increase the level of trade transactions, which currently stands at $350 million to $2 billion in the next five years,” Rouhani said in at a press conference with his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang who had visited Tehran.

“We also decided to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Central Bank of Iran and Vietnam’s Central Bank as the first step to boost cooperation,” Rouhani added.

NA/PA