Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.19
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran, Afghanistan agreed to cooperate in fighting against terrorism and smuggling of narcotics.
In a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Tehran, the two sides agreed to exchange intelligence and operational information to combat terrorism and smuggling of narcotics along joint borders, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on April 19.
The two sides also agreed upon expanding cooperation in different fields of economy, especially trade, transit, energy, industry and mine, Rouhani said on the sidelines of the meeting.
They emphasized the need for resolving problems of Afghan immigrants in Iran.
It was agreed that Afghan nationals who are willing to travel to Iran for economic and educational purposes receive visa via legal bodies.
Some problems related to the environment in the border province of Sistan-Baluchestan were also addressed during the meeting.
In August 2013, Afghan ex-President Hamid Karzai signed a strategic cooperation pact with President Rouhani covering mainly security issues.
Afghanistan was the fifth biggest importer of Iranian goods during the last Iranian fiscal year (ended on March 20).
The Islamic Republic exported $2.388 billion worth of goods to its eastern neighbor during the period.