Shkoi Kurdistan-
Iran and China are to sign a 25-year cooperation agreement later Saturday, Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said, as the US rivals move closer together, according to AFP.
China is Iran’s leading trade partner and was the biggest buyer of Iranian oil before then US president Donald Trump reimposed sweeping unilateral sanctions in 2018 after abandoning a nuclear agreement with Tehran.
The pact, which will include “political, strategic and economic” components, will be signed by visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who arrived in Tehran late Friday, Khatibzadeh told state television.
“We believe this document can be very effective in deepening” Iran-China relations, the spokesman said, recalling that the pact had first been proposed during a visit to Tehran by Chinese President Xi Jinping in January 2016.
Xi and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani agreed then to establish a roadmap for “reciprocal investments in the fields of transport, ports, energy, industry and services.”
“Iran’s government and people are striving as they always have to broaden relations with trustworthy, independent countries like China,” supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at the time, describing the proposed cooperation agreement as “correct and reasonable”.
A signing ceremony hosted by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is set for midday.
