TEHRAN - The state-run China Daily newspaper has lauded the recent official visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to the Asian country as a “monumental success” for bilateral cooperation between Tehran and Beijing.
Raisi, heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, paid an official visit to China on February 14 and held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in addition to attending several other meetings aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.
During the visit, which was the Iranian president’s first to China since taking office, the two sides signed 20 cooperation documents.
They also discussed the operationalization of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, the 25-year pact which was signed in March 2021, in a bid to strengthen their long-standing economic and political alliance.
“Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s recently-concluded visit to China should be seen as a monumental success for Sino-Iranian development cooperation. A detailed joint statement between both leaders factored the economic, political and cultural aspects of historic ties, while offering substantial opportunity for multi-sector development cooperation to gather more steam,” the Chinese paper said.
“At the heart of it lies the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), continuously regarded by Tehran as a key medium to facilitate global development amid new connectivity synergies,” it added.
Underscoring the two sides’ unwavering determination to implement the China-Iran comprehensive cooperation, the paper said, “Welcome focus on expanding high-quality goods production in Iran, and increasing enterprise exposure to Chinese markets, carries all the hallmarks of diversifying trade offerings. Such time-tested support is all the more important, considering Beijing’s status as Iran’s top trading partner, and the value of trade and investment diversification to their 25-year cooperation agreement.”
Both partners are united in their determination to uphold the principles of their comprehensive strategic partnership, regardless of how the international situation changes, according to the article.
“Such principled opposition to seismic shifts and geopolitics also reinforces the Sino-Iranian bond as a welcome model for future stability in the Middle East.
“Tehran and Beijing have also prepared relevant groundwork through dependable investment partnerships in energy and transport realms, highlighting the importance of over a dozen cooperation documents signed between both sides,” the China Daily said.
“In effect, it is a step in the right direction for both partners to create “favorable conditions” for the benefit of all countries,” the paper added. “In sum, there is no doubt that a shared premium on Middle Eastern stability, win-win BRI cooperation and people-centric development will inject new impetus into an ever-strengthening Sino-Iranian bond.”