TEHRAN – During his trip to Ashgabat to participate in a regional summit, Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi met with a number of Iranian businesspersons and expatriates in Turkmenistan.

In the meeting with the businesspersons on Sunday morning, Ayatollah Raisi hailed Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as providing a good platform for regional development, underlining that a gas deal with Turkmenistan will be revived.

Emphasizing the need to facilitate the activities of the country's traders and exporters in order to boost and develop exports, the president said, “By visiting Tajikistan and attending the Shanghai summit, a suitable platform has been created for the development of the country's regional relations.”

Ayatollah Raisi called for transformation in all areas, especially the economic and commercial sectors, as one of the government's economic priorities. “Increasing exports means that the current situation is well studied and appropriate solutions are adopted to remove obstacles and problems.”

Emphasizing his government's approach to developing cooperation with neighboring countries and the region, the president said, “There is a suitable economic and trade infrastructure to develop and enhance the level of bilateral and regional cooperation in our country.”

Ayatollah Raisi noted, “By attending the Shanghai summit in Tajikistan, a suitable platform has been created for the development of regional relations in the country, and we are witnessing good opportunities in the field of improving the level of relations between Tehran and Dushanbe.”

He said, “There is no serious and special problem in the development of relations with neighboring countries and the region, and by interacting with each other and mutual understanding, while solving existing problems, effective steps can be taken to strengthen and consolidate relations.”

Referring to talks with his Turkmen counterpart on the development of bilateral relations in various sectors, including gas and transit, the president said, “Today, Turkmenistan is confident that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to solve the problems and remove the existing obstacles.”

The president stated, “The gas agreement between Iran and Turkmenistan will definitely be revived.”

Ayatollah Raisi said, “Regional and neighboring countries, due to deep cultural and historical commonalities, prefer to cooperate and have relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in this regard, barriers to the activities of traders and exporters should be removed.”

The president pointed out, “Our country's merchants and exporters should not face administrative and bureaucratic problems in the course of their activities, so the government is determined to make a change in the country's administrative structures in order to facilitate the work of exporters.”

The president also emphasized the efforts to implement the ECO cooperation agreements and said, “We will seriously pursue the implementation of the cooperation agreements.”

Emphasizing the need to return export currency to the country, the president said, “In this regard, a review should be done in the course of affairs so that the fulfilment of foreign exchange obligations of exporters and traders will not harm them.”

The president said, “Unfortunately, some issues with neighboring countries have become difficult due to lack of timely follow-up, and we are determined to solve these problems and prevent the recurrence of such cases.”

Ayatollah Raisi also met with a number of Iranians living in Turkmenistan. Speaking on Saturday night during the meeting with the Iranian expatriates at the Iranian embassy in Ashgabat, Ayatollah Raisi stressed that the connection of Iranians living abroad with the culture, customs, traditions and ancient Iranian Islamic civilization must be maintained.

He said that the government feels responsible for Iranians abroad. “Iranians living abroad are citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran and our country's embassies around the world should facilitate their travel, employment and investment in Iran.”

He added, “Good conditions should be provided for Iranians residing outside the country for the continuous and permanent communication with Iranians inside the country and pave the ground for their attraction, employment and investment in the country.”

“Iranians living abroad are ambassadors of the Islamic Republic of Iran and represent the culture and civilization of Islamic Iran and a great nation that has stood up to hegemony for more than forty years,” the president pointed out. 

Referring to cultural, historical, and religious affinities of the two nations of Iran and Turkmenistan, the president said, “Iran and Turkmenistan have more than friendship and brotherhood, kinship and heart, ideological, cultural and civilizational relations with each other.”

Referring to the devotion and belief of the people of Turkmenistan to Imam Reza (AS) and their love for Islam and Islamic civilization, the president said, “Iranians living in Turkmenistan also represent the culture, civilization and religiosity of the Iranian people and it is necessary that our country's cultural advisors introduce Iranian civilization and the deep ties between the two nations of Iran and Turkmenistan.”

Emphasizing that the government seeks to develop relations with all countries, especially neighboring countries and the region, the president said, “We believe that the current level of relations and cooperation between our country and neighboring countries, including Turkmenistan in various economic, cultural and political sectors is not enough and the level of these relations and cooperation can be increased in all areas.”

Ayatollah Raisi added, “Neighboring countries and the region are interested and trust in Iranian services and products, and we must take advantage of this capacity properly.”

Referring to the areas of development and improvement of Iran-Turkmenistan relations, Ayatollah Raisi said, “The two countries have great potential for the development of relations in various fields, especially oil and gas, energy and transit, and we are determined to increase the level of our cooperation in all these arenas as much as possible.”

Referring to his relatively detailed talks with the president of Turkmenistan at Ashgabat Airport, Ayatollah Raisi said, “In this long conversation, we emphasized the decision and will of both sides to expand and develop relations as much as possible, and we are determined to facilitate this path.”

The president said, “With the new perspective that has emerged in our country today, I hope we can take steps to grow and develop our country's relations with the region and neighboring countries, as well as the flourishing of existing capacities in Iran.”

Ayatollah Raisi pointed out, “It is easy to double the share of our country's exports in the economic market of the region to about 40 to 50 billion dollars, and all capacities should be used to achieve this goal.”