The agreement is in line with an effort to pursue long-term interests of China and Iran and to consolidate their traditional relationship.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s visit to China in January was considered a practical step to follow up on the implementation of the 25-year cooperation program between the two countries.
The administration of President Ebrahim Raisi has attached importance to better ties with the East at a time Tehran is facing an unwillingness in the West to expand relations with Iran as many Western nations have hesitated to abide by their commitments regarding Iran.
Less than a year after Amirabdollahian’s visit to Beijing, a 16-step program was finalized in the presence of Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Hu Chunhua in Tehran a few days ago.
The 70-strong Chinese delegation’s achievements in Tehran confirm that ties between Iran and China are very strong and in a level that is above the normal relations between current administrations in the two countries.
China is Iran’s largest trade partner. Under the 25-year partnership agreement between the two countries, China will be able to guarantee energy purchases from Iran for the next 25 years, allowing Iran to develop its infrastructure and to pursue its economic growth plans after two decades of economic pressure by the Western powers.
The cooperation program is expected to help Iran develop its transportation infrastructure and its manufacturing sector and to boost technology transfer and to facilitate financial transactions.
In the two-day visit to Tehran, the Chinese delegation and the Iranian side held talks on increased cooperation in the fields of energy, investment, monetary issues, banking, transit and infrastructure.
During the negotiations with the Chinese delegation, the Iranian side tried to pursue the implementation of joint projects and to accelerate the technology transfer process between the two countries while stressing the need for using Iranian workforce in joint projects.
The partnership deal will give Iranian companies a good opportunity to access a Chinese market of more than a billion people. This can pave the way for the quality of products manufactured in Iran to be improved so that they can be exported to China.
As part of the deal, China has committed to an investment in joint transit ventures with Iran that will be worth some $60 million. That comes as Tehran has been negotiating with Beijing to have the amount of that investment increased.
It seems that the 16-article agreement finalized between Iran and China earlier this week offers a promising perspective for the protection of mutual interests of the two countries and paves the way for further negotiations in future that could improve bilateral economic and trade tie.
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