Iran and Syria have reached primary agreements for the establishment of a joint free zone and a joint bank, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Rostam Qasemi announced.
The decisions for the establishment of the mentioned entities were made during a three-day visit of the Iranian minister to Syria, official sources reported.
Qasemi, who headed a high-ranking delegation in the visit to Syria, met with senior officials from Syria including President Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, and Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil.
Qasemi said, “During the meeting with the Syrian president, the economic issues of this country, as well as the current obstacles and problems in the economic relations between Iran and Syria were discussed.”
He noted a joint committee is set to be formed between Iran and Syria [to resolve such problems].
Qasimi added: “It was decided to form a joint committee between us and Syria to follow up on the reached agreements; We have many agreements with Syria, but some of them have not been implemented, so it was decided to review these issues in a joint committee and then implement them.”
He also pointed to his meeting with Mekdad on diplomatic issues between the two countries, saying, “A joint bank is scheduled to be established in Syria; In this regard, Iranian and Syrian banks should have branches in both countries.”
The Minister referred to the meeting with his Syrian counterpart and said: “Transportation in various sectors is one of the important requirements for our country’s economic development; In this regard, it was decided that the head of the country’s Civil Aviation Organization would pursue executive issues in this area with the Syrian side.”
Decisions were made on various issues during the visit with Samer al-Khalil, especially the establishment of a joint free zone between the two countries, he added.