ECONOMIC IDEAL – Tehran, April 22, IRNA – Iran’s Ambassador to China Mohammad Keshavarz-zadeh in an interview with ‘Beijing Daily’ said that Tehran supports Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Iran has strongly supported BRI and takes advantage of its unique capacities in the field of energy for providing the energy security of china under BRI, Keshavarz-zadeh said in his interview.
Both Iran and China have a long history of friendship and during the ancient Silk Road, the two countries had established a harmonious relationship based on the mutual respect and common interests, the envoy said, adding, ‘Chinese people enjoy a good reputation among the Iranian nation and there is no negative impression of the Chinese nation. We believe that China is moving in the right direction in promoting regional peace and stability.’
Mohammad Keshavarz-zadeh in this interview said: ‘The Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 has brought us self-determination and independence vis-a-vis the Western countries control. We praised the BRI because it is in line of out thought for the necessity of the equal sovereignty, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
*** The two economies are complementary
He noted that Iran as the 4th global oil resources and 2nd natural gas reserves along with the high capacity in the petrochemical production is a world key player in the supplying the energy security and able well to provide energy for China which is essential for its continuously economic development and growth.
‘Energy security cooperation is a critical section under the BRI and we are happy to work with China in this area. We are an independent country, and the decision is made in Tehran, not in Washington, not in London, not anywhere else, so we can really support BRI in the energy section which is irreplaceable and China can do more cooperation with Iran's in this field,’ he said.
*** ‘China and Iran; a mutual benefit relations’
‘China has been placed as 1st trade partner of Iran over last years and has played an important role in the Iran's economic development and industrialization,’ he noted.
‘With the increase of Chinese investment in Iran, the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in infrastructure, technology, finance and industry have prompted to establish a wide range of cooperative partnerships in various fields,’ Iran's Ambassador to China noted.
Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh went on to say that We hope for further expansion of our bilateral relationship under the framework of BRI in the future.
‘Iran has defined many projects in infrastructure construction with partnership of China and some of those will be implemented in the near future. Under the BRI, the infrastructure projects such as road construction can actually speed up bilateral relations,’ the envoy said.
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