International News

TEHRAN, (APP/AFP): Iran and South Korea have decided to
triple their annual trade volume to $18 billion, President Hassan Rouhani announced on Monday after meeting his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye.
“The two sides decided to increase by three times the current trade
volume of around $6 billion (5.2 billion euros) to $18 billion,” Rouhani said in a joint televised press conference.
“We also spoke about tourism, direct flights between Seoul and
Tehran, and Korean investment in Iranian tourism infrastructure, including building hotels,” he added.
Park is the first South Korean president to visit Iran since the two
countries established diplomatic relations in 1962, and as Seoul seeks new
markets to turn around a lengthy decline in export revenues.
Her three-day visit comes just months after a historic nuclear deal
with world powers lifted sanctions crippling Iran’s economy in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme.
Park, who is accompanied by several ministers and a 230-strong
business delegation, will also be received by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The two countries have pledged to develop their relations in the
energy sector.
“We will expand relations in energy projects and infrastructure…
and in oil, gas, railways and ports,” Park said.
Tehran hopes this month to increase its oil exports to Seoul to
400,000 barrels per day from a current 100,000 bpd, according to Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh.
The two governments signed 19 cooperation documents in the presence
of the presidents, and further memorandums of understanding were due to be signed by the private sector, Rouhani said.
Talks also included discussions about the situation on the divided
Korean peninsula amid fears that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a fifth nuclear test.
“The security of the Korean peninsula and security of the Middle East
are very important to us,” Rouhani said.