Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who is on an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, met today with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
During their hour-long meeting, Messrs. Venizelos and Zarif, heading their two countries’ delegations, discussed issues covering the range of bilateral and international relations. Following the meeting, the two Minister’s held a joint press conference, after which the two delegations continued their talks during a working luncheon.
The agenda for the talks included the political contacts between the two countries, as well as economic and trade cooperation, always within the framework of the international legal order and, more specifically, the resolutions of the UN and the European Union.
In this context, Messrs. Venizelos and Zarif considered the potential for cooperation, particularly in the sectors of energy, transport and shipping, trade in agricultural products, the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Due to the decisive role being played by the European Union following the talks on achieving a comprehensive and definitive agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, Mr. Venizelos, in his capacity as President of the EU Council of Ministers, also talked to Mr. Zarif about the level of EU-Iran bilateral relations. In this context, Mr. Venizelos expressed his satisfaction at the achievement of the interim agreement and characterized the reaching of a definitive and comprehensive agreement through the EU3+3 process as one of the major priorities of international politics.
During the meeting, Mr. Venizelos briefed Mr. Zarif on the state of play in Greece’s national issues – mainly the Cyprus issue and Greek-Turkish relations.
Also covered in the talks were the issues of maritime zones – bearing in mind the two countries’ experiences – and problems such as the international drug trade, organized crime, and human trafficking.
In the field of international politics, Messrs. Venizelos and Zarif had the opportunity to discuss the current developments in major pending international issues, including Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and the situation in Egypt, the wider Middle East and North Africa.
March 15, 2014