TEHRAN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday reaffirmed his country's commitment to maintaining stability and security in the Caucasus region.
Raisi made the remarks in a meeting here with visiting Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan while commenting on the Caucasus region's issues and developments, according to a statement published on the website of his office.
He added Iran supported and welcomed peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, expressing his country's determination and readiness to guarantee the strategic security of the Caucasus region and Iran's red lines in this area.
Raisi said, "We are against foreigners' presence in the region on the pretext of resolving (regional) issues and believe that their presence not only will fail to solve any problem but also will lead to bigger ones for the regional peoples and governments."
The Armenian deputy prime minister, for his part, described as very valuable and important Iran's support for his country's independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He stressed his government's willingness and determination to expand all-out economic and trade relations with Iran, especially in the energy and transit sectors.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. In December 2023, the two countries reached an agreement on taking confidence-building steps by releasing prisoners of war following their first-ever direct negotiations with no mediators involved.
Heading a 15-member delegation, the Armenian deputy prime minister arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to take part in the two-day 18th meeting of the Iran-Armenia Joint Economic Cooperation Commission.
During the meeting on Thursday, Iran and Armenia signed a document on expanding economic cooperation in 19 areas, including investment, customs affairs, development of free zones, transportation, oil and gas.
Grigoryan said Iran was an important economic and trade partner for his country, hoping that the two countries would be able to raise the annual bilateral trade value to 3 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.
The two countries also decided to form a special joint follow-up committee with its first meeting held in Yerevan within six months. ■
