Meeting with Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Ahmadian

Taking part in the meeting on the Russian side
was Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu Shoigu SergeiSecretary of the Russian Federation Security Council .
* * *
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Ahmadian, I am happy to welcome
you to St Petersburg.
I hope that your stay here has been both useful
and enjoyable. I know that a great deal has been done during your visit, in terms of your work with your colleagues, including Russian ones.
I should note that in recent years, friendly
Russian-Iranian relations have gained additional momentum. This is largely due
to the support of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed
Ali Khamenei. I ask you to convey my best and kindest wishes to him.
We appreciate that the new President Masoud
Pezeshkian’s team still considers Iran’s relationship with Russia a priority,
and we will be expecting him in Kazan on October 22–24 for the BRICS summit. I think we will be able to find time for a separate bilateral meeting as well.
As I have said earlier in a telephone
conversation with the President-elect, we will be happy to see him in Russia
for a full-scale visit, during which we will sign a new major inter-state
agreement aimed at consolidating Russia-Iran relationship at the strategic
partnership level. I think we will discuss this possibility during our meeting
in Kazan.
It is also important to note that after last
year’s decline in mutual trade, the trend reversed in the first half of this
year, when Russian-Iranian trade grew by almost ten percent.
The work of the intergovernmental commission is
of particular value now. Russia has appointed a new representative, and we are
waiting for Iran’s new Cabinet of Ministers to decide on the appointment of his
Iranian counterpart.
The North-South transport corridor project is
one of our priorities. We have revisited it many times and are working on it now.
Once again, I reaffirm my interest in the implementation of this major project.
There are many other topics that are certainly of interest and importance to Iran and Russia alike.
I would like to reiterate that we are
determined to move along all these avenues.
Welcome again.
Secretary of the Supreme National Security
Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Ahmadian (retranslated): I would also like to convey warm
greetings to you from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and from
our country’s President, Mr Pezeshkian.
As was mentioned, there have been no changes in Iran’s relations with Russia and their progress. We have a number of issues for discussion on the comprehensive bilateral agenda.
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