TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, who is the chairman of the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Committee, met with Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Tehran Abdolghafour Lival, and the two sides stressed the expansion of economic ties in all areas.

As reported by the Energy Ministry’s portal (PAVEN), in the meeting, Ardakanian referred to the agreements reached between the two sides during his visit to Afghanistan last year and said: "During that visit, President Ghani issued the necessary orders to implement electricity projects, including renewables, solving banking problems, etc., but unfortunately so far no definite measure has been taken to realize those agreements.”

The Afghan ambassador for his part described the latest situation in his country, emphasizing the principled position of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the political and security developments in Afghanistan.

The two sides also discussed preparations for the sixth round of the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Committee meeting which is due to be held during October 25-27 in Kabul.

The officials also decided to form a committee to follow up on the implementation of some of the agreements and memorandums signed between the two countries in the electricity sector, within the current week.

Ardakanian visited Kabul in late July 2019, to hold talks with senior Afghan officials in order to discuss the expansion of economic ties especially in water and energy areas.

During his one-day visit, he met with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the country’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, and the Afghan minister of water and energy as well as the country’s finance minister.

In the meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Ardakanian voiced Iran’s readiness for cooperation in Afghanistan’s infrastructure projects and emphasized the need for exploitation of bilateral and international capacities in this regard.

The two sides also agreed on cooperation in other areas like investing in renewables and extending this cooperation to other countries in the region.

EF/MA

Photo: Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian (R) and Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Tehran Abdolghafour Lival discuss expansion of economic ties between the two countries.