TEHRAN – The Australian Ambassador to Iran, Ian Biggs, met with Hormozgan Province governor Fereidoun Hemmati in Bandar Abbas on Sunday.

During the meeting, Biggs underlined the need to tap existing capacities to expand cooperation between Tehran and Canberra.

“Hormozgan province enjoys many capacities for mutual cooperation between Iran and Australia and it can play an effective role in facilitating the trade relations between the two countries,” Biggs said, according to the Fars news agency.

The ambassador said fish breeding is one of the strong points of Hormozgan province which could serve as a good ground for mutual cooperation given Australia’s capabilities in the field.

Biggs also said that nearly 100,000 Iranian nationals live in Australia and 3,000 Iranian students are admitted by his country’s universities annually, adding that the capacity should be used to further broaden ties.

Australian officials have reiterated that they would keep on interacting with Iran despite the re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran by the United States.

“The current conditions surrounding the JCPOA have created problems for multilateral exchanges, but the Australian government will keep up its interaction with Iran,” Director General of Australian Foreign Ministry’s Multilateral Policies Justin Lee said in a meeting with chair of Iran-Australia parliamentary friendship group Mahmoud Sadeqi in Tehran in August 2018.

The Australian official criticized the U.S. for withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Tehran.

Then, Sadeqi underlined the importance of broadening long-standing and growing ties between the two countries, saying, “We have always had permanent political, economic and cultural relations.”

The Iranian lawmaker appreciated Canberra’s alignment with the European states and not joining the U.S. to pressure Iran with sanctions.

SP/PA