Iran, Ukraine Sign Four Protocols to Boost Cooperation
According to the documents signed on the first day of President Mohammad Khatami's visit to Kiev by high ranking Iranian and Ukrainian officials, the two sides stressed the need to expand bilateral political, economic, commercial, scientific, cultural and technical cooperation.
Iran's Minister of Mines and Industries Es'haq Jahangiri and the Iranian chairman of Joint Economic Commission of the two countries and Ukrainian first deputy prime minister signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to bolster economic and commercial cooperation.
The MOU calls for full utilization of economic, scientific and technological facilities of Tehran and Kiev.
The two sides also inked an MOU for joint campaign against smuggling hallucinogenic drugs and chemical substances.
The health ministers of Iran and Ukraine also signed another MOU to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of medical training pharmaceutics and medical instruments.
Khatami arrived in Ukrainian capital of Kiev Tuesday on a two-day visit to discuss ways of boosting bilateral ties as well as latest regional and international developments.
The visit takes place on President Leonid Kuchma's invitation.
Khatami was in Istanbul for a one-day Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit, in which he met with presidents of Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan.
Before his departure to Kiev President Khatami warned against the establishment of an independent state by breakaway Kurds in northern Iraq.
"We are against ethnic, religious and tribal groups establishing a government. This would endanger the security of countries in the region," Khatami told reporters after meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov.
Khatami noted that four countries in the region -- Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey -- had Kurdish minorities.
"We -- Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria -- are against them (Kurds) seceding to set up a government," he added as quoted by Anatolia News Agency. In a speech in Istanbul Monday to fellow leaders of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Khatami said the region should "protect Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty."
Mountainous northern Iraq has been run by two main Kurdish factions -- the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) -- since the Persian Gulf War 1991 when the region was wrenched out of Baghdad's control and placed under the protection of U.S.-enforced no-fly zone.
The two groups have recently improved their ties after years of bitter fighting.
They have reopened their Parliament and drafted a Constitution calling for a future Iraqi federation made up of an Arab and a Kurdish region, the latter with its capital in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Turkey, which has several hundred troops in northern Iraq, is deeply suspicious that Iraqi Kurds are moving toward independence.
Before leaving Istanbul for Kiev Khatami held a meeting with Azeri President Haider Aliyev on Monday night. Khatami told Aliyev that "drafting a legal system for the Caspian Sea as quickly as possible is an urgent need which ensures regional stability and security."
Khatami pointed to Iran and Azerbaijan's shared historic, geographical, political, and economic interests that provide best opportunities for cooperation and unity between the two brotherly neighboring countries.
President Khatami proposed that Tehran and Baku should get involved in more joint projects at various levels and in different fields, as well as continuing active dialogues aimed at solving the previous minute misunderstandings.
He expressed hope that the two countries' relations would be drastically boosted as a result of the discussions at the 5th Joint Economic Commission of Tehran-Baku ties.
The Iranian president stressed Iran's strong will to expand regional security ties and determination to construct highways and railroads joining the two counties' major cities, with the goal of completing the "North-South corridor". For his part Aliyev evaluated the two countries' viewpoints on bilateral relations and expansion of ties pretty close to each other, adding: "Baku has always welcomed the expansion of comprehensive ties with Tehran." Referring to the special geo-political status of both countries, the Azeri president said, "The fates of Iran and Azerbaijan are tightly intermingled and we should not permit any factor to avoid deepening and expansion of bilateral ties."
President Aliyev once again invited his Iranian counterpart to have a state visit of the Azerbaijan Republic on his first convenient opportunity and President Khatami, accepting the invitation promised to visit Baku in near future.
Both countries' presidents expressed pleasure over the meeting, and President Aliyev said the two countries' consultations over the legal system of the Caspian Sea is a basic step taken towards that end.
Khatami also held a joint session with Karzai and Rakhmonov on Tuesday and they stressed the need for an all-out fight against drug trafficking which is a major regional menace.
The trio heads of Farsiphone states, also called on regional countries and international communities to fine-tune their anti-drug campaign.
Khatami cited strengthening the central government of Afghanistan -- the top producer of world opium -- and meeting sustenance of Afghan farmers as key solutions in the anti-drug fight.
The Iranian president also called on regional countries to devise a comprehensive plan to fight the cultivation and distribution of narcotics.
Karzai and Rakhmonov hailed the Islamic Republic for being on the frontline of the fight against international drug smuggling.
Iran has lost 3,000 of its military personnel and policemen in anti-drug fight since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, press cited a police head in Sistan-Baluchestan Province as saying recently.
Ninety percent of the world opium is produced in Afghanistan, indicating a severe strain imposed on the Islamic Republic from its eastern neighbors, he added.
Iran lies on crossroads of the international drug trade and its relentless anti-drug campaign costs the country U.S. $800 million per year, according to officials.
The country accounts for 80 percent of the opium and 90 percent of the morphine catches in the world, according to the International Narcotics Control Board.
Head of the State Welfare Organization Mohammadreza Rahchamani said recently that three percent of Iran's near 70 million people are drug addicts who consume four tons of narcotics each day.
President Khatami also reiterated expansion of ties between Iran and Afghanistan in various domains.
Khatami termed restoration of peace and security in Afghanistan as "important" for regional countries and underscored Iran's support for the interim government of the country.
He pointed to Iran's measures in the reconstruction of the war-shattered country and expressed hope that international aid pledges would be materialized.
Karzai, for his part, briefed his Iranian counterpart on measures taken at international level for reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and appreciated Iran's contribution to this goal.
He proposed holding a meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan which was welcomed by President Khatami.
The seventh ECO summit concluded its work in Istanbul on Monday night.
ECO was founded in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. Later seven other states including Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan joined this regional organization.