TEHRAN (FNA)- Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov described Iran as an important partner of his country in the region and the world, saying Minsk is ready to increase its all-out relations with Tehran. Martynov made the remarks in a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who was …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s former first vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref said that he believes that reformists should name their candidate soon in the run-up to the next year’s presidential elections. “I believe that the reformists should choose and declare their presidential candidate as soon as possible,” Aref told the Iranian students …

TEHRAN (FNA)- The vice chairman of Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom said his country could not limit its output under OPEC-style quotas. “The mechanism of OPEC couldn’t be applicable straight-forwardly to the Russian Federation,” AFP quoted Alexander Medvedev as saying in a press conference in Paris on Friday. “We are …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Belarus agreed to establish a joint economic commission in a bid to further expand relations. The decision was made during a Thursday meeting in Minsk between Belarusian Prime Minister Sergey Sidorskiy and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who arrived in the Belarusian capital the same day …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and the Speaker of the Egyptian People’s Assembly Ahmad Fathi Surur in a phone conversation called for taking more practical steps to speed up helping people in Gaza Strip. Larijani called for Islamic countries specifically Egypt possessing a unique geographical position to take …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday evening that US President George W. Bush’s policies in Afghanistan have failed and that the time is ripe for changing them. Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Tehran from his two-day official visit to Belarus, he termed his Belarus visit as …

Dismayed by the parliamentary speaker’s decision to prolong Monday’s session, opposition lawmakers spent four hours citing breaches in the parliamentary code instead of debating laws. The session ended at 0200 in the morning on Tuesday, with little ground being covered in the debates needed for a set of important judiciary …

Corruption in Bosnia is of “humongous proportions” and the governments’ anti-corruption efforts are “disappointing,” the top international envoy to Sarajevo has said. Bosnia’s High Representative Miroslav Lajcak has said that all aspects of corruption – including bribery, fraud, nepotism, tax evasion and all others – are present in the country.

The chief of Slovenia’s Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission says Ljubljana may review its policy on the thousands of ex-residents who were refused Slovene citizenship after 1991. Ivo Vajgl said the so-called ‘erased people’ would receive documents and be compensated.

Moldova’s President Vladimir Voronin has been cited as saying by his country’s state-owned news agency, that he wants good relations with often tense neighbour, Romania. “We have absolutely nothing against the Romanian people and state. Romania is our neighbour, a member of the European Union. That is why, it would …