Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai
vowed on Saturday to develop bilateral cooperation in all fields, the official
IRNA news agency reported.
Ahmadinejad said at a formal welcome ceremony that he wished Karzai's visit
would open a new period of growing relations between the two neighbors.
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) talks with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in
Tehran, Iran May 27, 2006.[Reuters] |
"Iran is keen on developing cooperation with Afghanistan on agriculture,
telecom, modern technology, transport, information technology, science and
technology, education and culture," Ahmadinejad said.
"Iran believes that Afghanistan should strive to remedy the damages inflicted
by foreign invasion and perpetual war in the country," he added, pledging
Iranians' support for the Afghans in the future.
Karzai also expressed the will to further trade and economic cooperation with
Iran, noting that Iran-Afghan relations enjoyed extensive progress in the past
four years.
"Iran has exercised excellent cooperation with Kabul government on Afghan
reconstruction," Karzai was quoted as saying.
He also thanked Iran for hosting around two million Afghan refugees fleeing
wars in the past 20 years.
He hoped to boost industrial exports to Iran as the Iranian exports to
Afghanistan reached 500 million U.S. dollars.
Heading a high-level political and economic delegation, Karzai arrived in
Tehran earlier in the day for a three-day visit.
During the stay, the two sides would focus on major bilateral and regional
developments, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said, hailing
the visit as a "positive step" towards cementing bilateral ties.
Several agreements on proposed joint ventures as well as cooperation in
judiciary, cultural, energy and environment fields are expected to be signed,
Asefi said.
Meanwhile, the spokesman denied speculations that Karzai would mediate
between Tehran and Washington over nuclear standoff.
"These reports are baseless and the issue (mediation) is not in the agenda of
Mr Karzai's visit," he said.
Afghanistan has a close relationship with the United States, which maintains
about 22,000 troops in Afghanistan to fight a mounting insurgency by the Taliban
toppled in a U.S.-led anti- terror campaign in 2001.