Vietnamese FM underlines ties with Iran

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh stressed his country's enthusiasm for the further reinvigoration of relations with Tehran, and called for increasing mutual cooperation between the two countries within the framework of regional and international bodies.Binh Minh made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Hanoi Qavam Shahidi, and underscored that mutual cooperation between Iran and Vietnam in the regional and international organizations, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), would serve the two countries' interests in Asia. He referred to the economic relations between the two countries, and said, "There are very good potentials for the expansion of economic ties (between Iran and Vietnam)." The Iranian envoy, for his part, urged enhancement of the bilateral relations between Tehran and Hanoi, and said that the two states should increase exchange of visits by high-ranking officials and delegations to further develop their trade and economic ties. Earlier this month, Chairman of Vietnam-Iran friendship society had also voiced his country's enthusiasm for investment and joint ventures in Iran's oil and agriculture sector. Speaking in a meeting with a number of economic activists and members of Iran-Vietnam friendship society in Iran's central province of Isfahan in early October, the Vietnamese chairman of the friendship society said despite the long distance between the two countries, "grounds are prepared for their cooperation and interaction in different sectors".