VP Calls For Expansion Of Ties Between Iran-Afghanistan

Tehran, May 9, IRNA – First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, by referring to the sincere relations between Iran and Afghanistan, called mutual relations good, but not enough. According to the report of Presidential Office website on Tuesday afternoon, Rahimi in a meeting with visiting Afghanistan Minister of Communication and Information Technology Amir Zai Sangin said that the USA and former Soviet Union caused a great deal of loss for the country. He called Afghanistan a country with old civilization and culture which has tolerated a lot of damage and now Iran and Afghanistan with helping each other should find ways to compensate the loss. Rahimi said transit is one of the grounds for common cooperation and in a seminar in Birjand, capital of South Khorasan, it was said yesterday that Iran and neighboring states should increase their income from transit in the world. He added that cooperation with three eastern neighbors of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India, should increase in the field of transit. The Afghan minister, for his part, said that Iran has achieved noticeable progress and great achievements in different fields and praised Iran cooperation and assistance for commissioning Afghanistan Technology Center. Amir Zai Sangin said that for advancement and progress, both nations need expansion of close cooperation. He continued that Iran has special importance for Afghanistan and all Afghan officials are interested in expansion of cooperation with Iran and added that foreign countries are in Afghanistan today, but they won’t be there tomorrow while Iran will always be with Afghanistan./end