Iran Looking for Closer Ties with Vietnam

Expansion of relations with Vietnam is high on Iran’s foreign policy agenda given that country’s position in Southeast Asia and its standing in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), President Rouhani said on Monday.

He made the comments at a joint meeting of high-ranking delegations from Iran and Vietnam in Tehran, attended by visiting Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang.

President Rouhani also insisted that the joint commission of Iran-Vietnam cooperation should take a more active role, explore avenues for the expansion of ties and turn them into practical cooperation agreements.

He underlined that Tehran and Hanoi can launch cooperation in a broad range of commercial and economic fields, as in energy, oil and gas industry, agriculture, automotive industry and construction of power plants.

The president also called for closer interaction and coordination between the two countries in the fight against terrorism, stressing that the foreign ministers should hold more consultation on fighting terrorism.

For his part, the Vietnamese president hailed an Iranian-proposed UN resolution in condemnation of extremism and violence, saying the two countries need to promote cooperation in combating those threats.

Back in September 2013, President Rouhani put forth an initiative to the United Nations General Assembly, titled the World against Violence and Extremism (WAVE).

The United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted it as a UN resolution.

The Vietnamese president is visiting Iran as part of efforts to boost relations between Hanoi and Tehran after coming into force of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a lasting nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

There has been a new wave of interests in cooperation with Iran after implementation of the JCPOA on January 16 and the resulting termination of anti-Iran sanctions.