Presiden Iran Ebrahim Raeisi berkata Republik Islam telah mengubah ancaman yang ditimbulkan oleh sekatan unilateral menjadi peluang untuk membuat kemajuan yang ketara.
Raeisi membuat kenyataan itu semasa sidang akhbar dengan rakan sejawatannya dari Belarus Alexander Lukashenko selepas mereka bertemu di Istana Saadabad di Tehran pada hari Isnin.
“Iran telah mencipta peluang daripada sekatan yang dikuatkuasakan ke atas negara itu, dan kami telah mencapai kemajuan yang luar biasa walaupun terdapat ancaman. Kami bersedia untuk berkongsi pengalaman kami dengan rakan Belarus kami,” kata Raeisi.
Beliau berkata kedua-dua Iran dan Belarus menentang unilateralisme dan itu adalah cara untuk meneutralkan sekatan dan membuat kemajuan.
Lukashenko tiba di Tehran pada hari Ahad atas jemputan Presiden Raeisi.
Dalam sidang akhbar bersama mereka, Raeisi juga berkata bahawa kedua-dua negara telah menjalin hubungan selama tiga dekad dan hubungan antara mereka semakin erat semasa pentadbiran semasa.
“Kedua-dua negara berazam untuk meningkatkan hubungan dan perdagangan mereka,” katanya. “Hubungan ekonomi antara Iran dan Belarus tidak setanding dengan masa lalu.”
Raeisi also said that Iran and Belarus signed agreements in sectors such as industry, mine, trade, and agriculture today, expressing hopes that the agreements pave the way for improved bilateral relations.
“We are determined to promote our regional and trans-regional relations with Belarus and had fruitful negotiations with the Belarusian president,” Raeisi said.
He added that Iran and Belarus can enhance bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Lukashenko also said: “It is a fact that no sanctions and pressure could stop Iran from progressing and a strong Iran continues to progress. Many documents were signed today, if we implement all of them, we can increase the trade between the two countries to 100 million.”
“Sanctions are opportunities and two countries should not miss these opportunities,” the Belarusian president added.
“The positions of the two countries are similar in international and regional issues, and both want a just and multipolar world,” he noted.
Lukashenko also invited the Iranian president to Minsk.
Last month, the Belarusian president expressed his desire to travel to Tehran to discuss bilateral issues and current international and regional issues.
“Since Iran has shown rapid economic and welfare growth in today’s complex conditions, this country is considered an important player in the region and the international arena,” he said in a February 11 message to Raeisi on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Belarus is a member of the EAEU, an international, Russia-led economic union that plans to enter into a free trade arrangement with Iran.
Iran has been in a preferential trade agreement with the EAEU since 2019. The two sides have held five rounds of free trade negotiations in recent months.
The SCO, set up in 2001, works as a counterweight to Western organizations that are hostile to countries such as Iran. Iran’s recent accession to the SCO has facilitated diverse cooperation in different areas with its member states, including China.
Belarus has been a dialogue partner of the SCO since 2010 and has the status of an observer at the organization since 2015. The procedure for the admission of the country to the SCO membership was initiated in 2022.
