TEHRAN Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and his Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanyan here on Saturday discussed ways of expanding bilateral ties, regional and international cooperation as well as the Karabakh issue.

The two officials stressed the determination of their respective countries for expansion of cooperation in all fields.

In the meeting, Kharrazi termed the growing trend in cooperation between Tehran and Yerevan as positive and said, "We attach much importance to the relations with Armenia."

He described regional cooperation between the two countries as necessary and welcomed the expansion of economic ties including a speedy implementation of the agreements reached on the laying of a pipeline to transfer gas from Iran to Armenia.

Kharrazi welcomed any measure aimed at establishing stability and security in Armenia and said Iran supports direct negotiations between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Republic to settle the Karabakh crisis.

Pointing to the hardships caused by the Karabakh war to regional countries, he expressed hope that the crisis would be solved through negotiation.

For his part, the Armenian foreign minister said that his country also attaches great importance to her ties with Iran and would like to expand bilateral relations in all fields.

He stressed the determination of both countries to lay a gas pipeline and expressed hope that the project will become operational as soon as possible.

Oskanyan said given the regional developments, it is necessary that the two countries have constant consultations.

He said the expansion of economic relations between Tehran and Yerevan and trilateral cooperation between Iran, Armenia and Greece are important and expressed hope that the process of cooperation is accelerated in the next meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries in Athens.

Oskanyan pointed to the designation of 2001 as the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations which is also the 1700th year of the conversion of Armenians to Christianity and called for a joint seminar in Yerevan. The Iranian side welcomed the idea.

(IRNA)