TEHRAN – Iran and Syria have reached primary agreements for the establishment of a joint free zone and a joint bank, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Rostam Qasemi announced.

The decisions for the establishment of the mentioned entities have been made during a three-day visit of the Iranian minister to Syria, the Transport Ministry’s news portal reported.

Qasemi, who headed a high-ranking delegation in the visit to Syria, met with senior officials from the Arab country including President Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, and Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil.

Referring to his meeting with Assad in Damascus on Wednesday, Qasemi said, "During the meeting with the Syrian president, the economic issues of this country, as well as the current obstacles and problems in the economic relations between Iran and Syria were discussed. A joint committee is set to be formed between Iran and Syria [to resolve such problems]."

He stated that good decisions have been made in the meetings with Syrian officials, adding: “It was decided to form a joint committee between us and Syria to follow up on the reached agreements; We have many agreements with Syria, but some of them have not been implemented, so it was decided to review these issues in a joint committee and then implement them.”

Ghasemi also pointed to his meeting with Mekdad on diplomatic issues between the two countries, saying, "We reached good agreements; A joint bank is scheduled to be established in Syria; In this regard, Iranian and Syrian banks should have branches in both countries."

The Minister of Transport and Urban Development also referred to the meeting with his Syrian counterpart and said: "Transportation in various sectors is one of the important requirements for our country's economic development; In this regard, it was decided that the head of the country's Civil Aviation Organization would pursue executive issues in this area with the Syrian side.”

Decisions were made on various issues during the visit with Samer al-Khalil, especially the establishment of a joint free zone between the two countries, he added.

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Photo: Iranian Transport Minister Rostam Qasemi (L) and President of Syria Bashar al-Assad