Iran Press/ Iran news: Speaking at his joint presser with the Syrian FM Faisal Mekdad on Monday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, while welcoming Mekdad, he said: "In addition to Faisal Mekdad, two members of the Syrian cabinet, the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Communications, and a number of deputy and general managers of various Syrian economic and commercial ministries accompany the foreign minster."
"Simultaneously with the conversation with the Syrian Foreign Minister, we are witnessing the meeting of the Joint Economic Commission of the two countries, chaired by Mr. Bazrpash, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development in Tehran," he added.
Iran's foreign minister hosted Syrian counterpart at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The visit of the Syrian delegation to Tehran was made in order to follow up on the approvals of the visit of President Ebrahim Raisi.
Amir-Abdollahian stated: "One of our common priorities is to follow up on the agreements between the presidents of the two countries during President Raisi's visit to Damascus."
"In the past weeks, with the efforts of the ambassadors of the two countries and with the continuous follow-up of the cabinet ministers in the two countries, we have seen progress in the implementation of the economic, commercial and technological agreements between the two countries," stated Amir-Abdollahian.
He added: "Strengthening the cooperation between the private sector and businessmen of the two countries and increasing the air flights of the two countries and the involvement of businessmen in the removal of commercial tariffs within a bid to increase the volume of trade between the two countries in parallel with the development of economic cooperation in the field of transit are among the issues that have been advanced during the follow-ups of the past weeks."
In order to more closely and continuously follow up with the presidents of the two countries and benefit the two countries from the benefits of commercial and economic cooperation, the joint economic committee, the science and technology committee, the financial committee and the legal committee are following up on bilateral issues.
He added: "We had a discussion and exchange of views regarding the latest developments related to Syria and the region and some international issues."
Iran's Foreign Minister said: "I offer my condolences to the nation and the government of the two countries for the recent terrorist operation in the Zainabiya area in Damascus and the terrorist operation in Pakistan, and I condemn these terrorist actions. We must take the alarm raised by terrorist movements seriously and continue to take regional and global measures to fight terrorism."
Amir-Abdollahian added: "Iran will continue its efforts and support to realize peace, stability and sustainable security in the region."
He further said: "The necessity of continuing the meetings of the Astana process was emphasized in this meeting. We paid attention to the developments related to the Astana meeting. Recently, the 20th meeting of Astana's senior experts was held and there is a consensus that this format will continue to operate, and the Astana framework is on the common agenda of all parties in the planning of the meeting at the level of foreign ministers and presidents."
Amir-Abdollahian then added: "We strongly condemn the repeated attacks of the Zionist regime on the territory of Syria and the continuation of these attacks. This regime is the main source of instability in the region. This regime considers its artificial survival due to war-mongering in the region. The fake rulers of the Zionist regime understood that no action of the Zionists would go unanswered. The region has not been and will not be indifferent to the movements of the Zionist regime."
He further elaborated: "Iran firmly supports the right of the Syrian people to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country, and we believe that the military presence of foreign countries in Syria will not contribute to stability and security in this country and in the region."
Syria trying to return refugees
Faisal Mekdad in a press conference with Amir-Abdollahian: "We are trying to return Syrian refugees to our country. Westerners are trying to prevent refugees from returning to Syria and they claim that the conditions in Syria are not suitable."
Mekdad in response to a question said: Nearly 300,000 or 400,000 terrorists entered the territory of Syria since 2011, and by the grace of God, we defeated them.
The US’ direct military aggression against Syria killed more than 250,000 Syrian citizens in one operation, he said.
"The situation in northern Syria is not good and the Turkish army has occupied a part of it. We have no enmity with Turkey, but any foreign force must leave Syria. European countries that claim human rights are silent against the actions that have killed and displaced tens of thousands of Syrians," Mekdad said.
"When ISIS weakens, Israel increases its attacks. There is no difference between ISIS, Israel and the US," he noted.
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