TEHRAN – Iran’s Ambassador to Beijing, Mohammad Keshavarz Zadeh, has called China a strategic partner of Iran, underlining Tehran’s enthusiasm to broaden bilateral ties with China in different arenas. 

In an interview with IRNA published on Saturday, Keshavarz Zadeh pointed out that Iran-China relationship has been upgraded in the recent two years to a comprehensive strategic one, which marks a new stage in ties.
 
He added that recent visits paid by senior Iranian officials to China have been promising an eye-catching promotion of relations in various fields. 

“For instance, the Iranian parliament speaker, the country’s armed forces’ chief of staff and the agricultural jihad minister paid official visits to China in recent months,” the envoy stated. 

Highlighting China’s large-scale capacities, he also said, “Such capacities must not be ignored, rather they should be utilized well.”

Separately, the ambassador pointed to the U.S. hegemonic and destructive policies regarding international order in contrast to China which has been greatly contributed to the global economy. “China, as one of the most powerful nations worldwide, has played a pivotal and effective role in the promotion of the world economy.” 

In relevant remarks on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua in a meeting with Iran's Customs Administration governor Mehdi Mirashrafi examined a new plan to expand customs cooperation and facilitate trade between the two countries.

During the meeting, Mirsharafi pointed to strong trade relations between China and Iran, offering proposals to bolster trade exchanges.

He proposed issues like exchanging customs information in the framework of training both sides' employees, taking steps in line with revitalizing the Silk Road, creating a joint trade gate and exchanging X-ray images by both sides as well as holding meetings every six months to access better and faster results.

Hua, for his part, appreciated Iranian Customs Administration's officials and underlined that Iran is among the largest trade partners of China, so expansion of such ties is so important to China.

MJ/PA