Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.28
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Tehran and Beijing mayors have announced readiness to cooperate in implementing urban development plans in both countries, IRNA reported on February 28.
In a meeting between Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Beijing mayor Wang Anshun in Beijing, the two sides called for promoting tourism travels between the two states.
Qalibaf said Tehran municipality is ready to assist Beijing in creating large parks, establishing shopping malls, and renovating old parts of Beijing, as well.
The mayors also signed a sister city agreement.
On January 20, Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Yuhang Yang announced that the value of trade between the two countries stood at $31 billion in the first ten months of 2013, a 5.3 percent growth year on year.
The bilateral trade amounted to $36 billion in 2012, the diplomat added.
In December 2013, Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Chairman Asadollah Asgaroladi announced that the annual trade between Iran and China may reach $38 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014).
In November 2013, a senior Iranian lawmaker said China has agreed to make investment in different projects in the country in lieu of the 22 billion euro of Iran's blocked assets, Tasnim reported.
Hossein Sobhani-Nia, member of Iranian Parliament's Presiding Board, said that the country's parliamentary delegation, during a recent visit to China, discussed a broad range of topics with Chinese officials, including Iran's blocked assets - mainly from oil export revenues.