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Tehran, Moscow close to concluding 20-year cooperation agreement — Iranian diplomat

Saeed Khatibzadeh added that the document was similar to Iran’s 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement with China

TEHRAN, December 11. /TASS/. Tehran and Moscow are about to complete their work on a 20-year agreement on comprehensive cooperation, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday.

"We established a new Foreign Ministry program, a roadmap to conclude 20-year agreements with our neighboring countries. The process is almost over with Russia," the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) quoted him as saying.

The diplomat added that the document was similar to Iran’s 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement with China.

On November 16, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin that Iran was ready to conclude a long-term agreement on comprehensive cooperation with Russia. The Treaty on the Basis for Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Russia and Iran, signed in March 2001, has been automatically extended every five years. On September 24, 2020, then Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said during a visit to Moscow that before extending the document once again, Tehran would like to consider the possibility of updating it.

On March 27, the top diplomats of Iran and China signed a 25-year agreement on comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, which includes economic and cultural interaction.

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