TEHRAN – President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran said on Wednesday that moves to strengthen ties between countries which have been subjected to cruel sanctions due to their resistance to protect their independence are effective steps to neutralize sanctions.

Raisi made the remarks in a meeting with Belarussian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko who was visiting Iran at the head of an economic delegation.

The Iranian president also described the relations between Iran and Belarus friendly, saying he and his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko insisted on developing ties in their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Samarkand, Tajikistan, on September 15-16.

Raisi went on to say that despite cruel and unprecedented sanctions Iran has made great progresses in all areas, including economy, adding, “Today Iran and Belarus have various and abundant potential to develop ties with each other.”

The president also said senior officials in Tehran and Minsk can eliminate hurdles in the path to increase ties. 

“Serious determination by heads of state of the two countries to develop ties can remove possible hurdles in the way of expanding interactions,” Raisi remarked.

For his part, the Belarussian prime minister said the approach taken by Iran toward regional cooperation has opened a new perspective in relations between Iran and Belarus.
“My travel to Iran followed an emphasis by the president of Belarus to speedily implement agreements made in his two meetings with Your Excellency” in Uzbekistan, Golovchenko pointed out.

Prime Minister Golovchenko also called relations cordial and said the two countries have had constructive cooperation at international level.

“Today, political coordination between the two countries is at the highest level and now is the time to deepen economic relationship,” Golovchenko remarked.  

The prime minister also said the volume of trade between Belarus and Iran has increased by three times over the last year.

He added upon an order by his country’s president, the history of relations between Belarus and Iran has been carefully studied and a “roadmap” for increasing ties has been drawn up so that “we can implement them speedily.”
 
Prime Minister Golovchenko also held a meeting with Raisi’s right-hand man Mohammad Mokhber upon his arrival in Tehran on Tuesday.
In the meeting that took place with at Saadabad Palace under the leadership of Vice President Mokhber and Golovchenko the economic and political teams from Iran and Belarus put an emphasis on developing economic and commercial ties based on the roadmap. 

“The will of the two countries is developing economic ties in different areas, and one of the issues that was decided in this meeting was to activate the private sector of the two countries by the houses of chamber of Iran and Belarus,” Mokhber said.
Mokhber also said Iran and Belarus have great potential in areas of commerce, transit, energy and industry. The two sides also can share technical knowledge, he noted.
The vice president also said, “Political relationship between Iran and Belarus is at a good level but it is not commensurate with economic ties and it is decided to increase economic ties to a good level.”