Iran FM, BSEC head discuss broadening mutual cooperation

In the meeting, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian congratulated the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), and pointed to the broad potentials for cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the BSEC and explained Iran's capabilities in the fields of transit and energy.

The Iranian foreign minister also referred to the international conference dubbed "Iran & 30-year old BSEC: Prospects for Cooperation" which is going to kick off tommorow in Tehran and considered it as an opportunity to identify areas for mutual cooperation between Iran and the BSEC.

He also pointed to the finalization of the agreement on the trans-regional Persian Gulf–Black Sea transport corridor and expressed hope that the signing of the document and the implementation of that corridor would lay the ground for positive developments in trade and transit cooperation between Iran and the BSEC.

The BSEC Secretary General Lazar Comanescu, for his part, expressed his appreciation to the Iranian foreign minister for the meeting and also hosting the BSEC international conference in Tehran, and described the Islamic Republic of Iran as one for the most active "dialogue partners" for the BSEC and expressed certainty that in the light of tomorrow's conference, the ground will be laid for broader and stronger cooperation.

He also presented a report on the BSEC activities in the past three decades and pointed to the negative effects of the Ukraine crisis on the current BSEC activities.

Referring to Iran's efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, the top Iranian diplomat reiterated Tehran efforts and readiness to improve cooperation with the BSEC and wished success for the Tehran-hosted conference.

The Tehran International Conference dubbed "Iran & 30-year old BSEC: Prospects for Cooperation" was held on Monday, June 30 with the participation of the BSEC Secretary General, ambassadors of the BSEC member states, the United Nations representatives, the ECO Secretary General and some Iranian senior managers at both public and private sectors will be held at the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.