Tehran, Iran, Sept.2
Trend:
Iran and China are to improve joint trade ties in long-term that will include infrastructure and railway projects, said deputy chief of Iran-China joint Chamber of Commerce.
Majid reza Hariri discussed the effect of a recent visit of Iran's Foreign Minister to China on the trade ties in an interview with Trend.
"Mohammad Javad Zariff's trip was focused on political issues to find a way to compensate US withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and China's responsibilities as a signatory member of the deal. At the same time, issues related to economy were also discussed, and Iran disclosed a 25-year plan on developing trade ties with China," he said.
"Chinese side has given their comments, and there is a possibility that we will reach a long-term agreement," he added.
"A cohesive agreement was signed between Iran and China in 2016. It covered all fields including economy that defined strategic work with China. A working group was set up to elaborate 25-year plan of cooperation with China, and Iranian politicians have agreed with it," the official noted referring to the visit of Chinese president to Iran in 2016.
"This could be a road map for long-term cooperation with China, which is our first business partner and the biggest buyer of Iran's oil. It is also the biggest market for non-oil products and Iran's import before and after signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and after US withdrawal," he said.
"It is expected that economic sectors will also develop long-term cooperation, and hopefully, after visits of various trade delegations in coming months, the relations will further improve," he added.
"China has created a credit line to projects such as roads, ports and infrastructures. There are contracts in infrastructure which were signed with China in the past. There were disagreements over banking issues including lack of Iran's accession to FATF, and new discussions related to US sanctions are held," he said.
"Iran's contracts with China shall be reviewed," he noted.
"The joint projects are mostly on infrastructure including Tehran-Mashhad railway electrification project and Tehran-Qom-Isfahan railway that are underway, but they need to be changed considering new conditions, "he said
"Meanwhile, there is less discontent, that means projects are implemented better than before," he said referring to banking problems between Iran and China.