TEHRAN - Iran's newly appointed Minister of Transport and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash received a delegation of Qatari officials led by the country’s Transport Minister Jassim bin Saif bin Ahmed Al Sulaiti on Monday.

The Qatari delegation visited Tehran to offer condolences over the passing of Iran’s former transport minister Rostam Qasemi and also to explore avenues of cooperation with the new minister, the portal of Iran’s Transport Ministry reported on Monday.

During the meeting, the two sides called for enhancing mutual ties in the fields of transportation and agreed on the implementation of previously agreed documents between the two countries.

The Qatari delegation also attended a memorial ceremony held for the late Rostam Qasemi along with Iran’s national and military officials, including the speaker of the parliament, the chief of the general staff of the armed forces, the first vice president, the ministers, the deputy commander in chief of the IRGC, and other senior officials.

During a meeting between Al Sulaiti and Qasemi in Tehran back in mid-September, the two sides had emphasized the necessity for the expansion of relations between the two countries in sea and air transportation as well as international transit.

In that meeting, Qasemi emphasized the existence of many cooperation opportunities for Iran and Qatar, and stressed the establishment of a joint office between the two countries for cooperation in the field of transportation.

The Qatari minister, for his part, stated that the relations between the two countries are deep, and considered the creation of a joint office proposed by the Iranian minister as necessary for the development of these relations.

Back on June 6, Iran and Qatar inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the end of the two countries’ eighth Joint Economic Committee meeting in Doha to outline avenues for future cooperation.

The MOU was signed by Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian and Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Qassim Al-Thani who co-chaired the committee meeting.

This memorandum determines the framework of cooperation in various fields including transit, transportation, industry and trade, energy, customs and free zones, tourism, culture, agriculture, sports, etc.

Speaking at the eighth meeting of the Iran-Qatar Joint Economic Committee, Mehrabian emphasized the Iranian government's approach to developing international relations and said: "Considering our good relations in the past, this meeting should be a new chapter in the development of cooperation between the two countries."

“We hope to see a significant increase in interactions with the agreements reached in this meeting,” he added.

"One of the most important goals of the meeting is to support the Iranian and Qatari private sectors, and we are happy to see that a large conference with the participation of Iranian businessmen is being held in Doha at the same time as the meeting of the joint committee," Mehrabian said.

According to the official, eight MOUs on food, medical industry, knowledge-based companies, etc. were also signed between businessmen of the two countries on the sidelines of the mentioned meeting.

The Iranian energy minister noted that Iran and Qatar have set financial goals for 2023 and hope to see doubled economic relations and trade balance between the two countries.

EF/MA