Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Bahrain and Iran have targeted an annual trade exchange volume of $1 billion by next year. This was announced yesterday as both countries’ foreign ministers held joint committee meetings and signed an agreement for Iran to provide Bahrain with its gas needs.
Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told a Press conference that talks dealt with key topics including political and economic ties, notably cooperation in the oil and gas as well as tourism and health sectors.
Economic cooperation between both countries is based mainly on oil and gas, Shaikh Khalid said, noting that great progress has been made in this field in less than a year.
The joint oil and gas technical committee will hold a meeting next month to review means of activating the memorandum of understanding related to natural gas which was signed during Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s visit to Bahrain last November, Shaikh Khalid added.
He expressed delight in the progress made in Bahraini-Iranian cooperation and said the joint committee will be holding a meeting every six months to follow up on agreements.
Shaikh Khalid called on the private sector to respond positively to initiatives by the two countries to reinforce economic cooperation.
The meeting of the committee is the first step in activating the visions of both leaderships on the need to reinforce and broaden ties, Mottaki said.
He stressed both countries desire to accelerate cooperation, underlining Iran’s admiration of the Bahrain’s reforms and its impact on investment.
Mottaki also said that the meeting led to positive results, reminding that he could not attend the Manama Dialogue forum last month because he was very busy with other activities.
