Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari and Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljaji? signed a memorandum of understanding at the 15th session of the joint economic cooperation commission.
The Iranian minister also inked another MoU with Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Z. Mihajlovi? on mutual aviation cooperation.
Shariatmadari and the Serbian minister of agriculture signed another MoU on fighting pests and plant protection and quarantine.
In a joint press conference with Shariatmadari, the Serbian minister of trade, tourism and telecommunications said good negotiations had been held between the two sides on signing a free trade agreement and boosting mutual trade exchanges. Ljaji? said lifting of visa requirement and operating direct flights between Tehran and Belgrade, goes a long way towards expansion of bilateral economic and tourism cooperation.
He said the Islamic Republic has expressed willingness to import meat and oil beans from Serbia and negotiations are underway in this regard.He said economic and trade cooperation between Iran and Serbia should expand in parallel with their political ties and to attain this goals some fundamental steps should be taken such as deepening of banking cooperation and Iran's investments in infrastructure projects in Serbia.
Shariatmadari, for his part, underlined the need to broaden mutual cooperation in the fields of agriculture, energy and tourism.
He also described the prospect for Tehran-Belgrade political and economic relations as 'very bright'. He said Iran was ready to import meat, oil beans, corn and steel from Serbia and export petrochemical products and crude oil to that country.
