Foreign minister: Iran ready to boost cooperation with Black Sea Economic Cooperation Org.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a Sunday meeting with secretary general of the organization, Lazăr Comănescu, in Tehran.

During the meeting, Iran’s top diplomat said the forthcoming international conference of the organization to be in Tehran on Monday will be a good opportunity for the identification of the existing grounds for cooperation between Iran and the BSEC.

Amir-Abdollahian congratulated the BSEC on its 30th anniversary and underscored the enormous potential for cooperation between the Tehran and the organization.

Citing Iran’s potential in transit and energy sectors, the minister expressed hope that the conclusion of Persian Gulf-Black Sea Corridor agreement would facilitate the positive development of trade and transit cooperation between the two sides.

Comănescu, for his part, thanked the Iranian foreign minister for arranging the meeting and voiced his support for Tehran’s hosting of the BSEC conference.

He praised Iran as one of BSEC’s “most active dialog partners,” voicing confidence that the conference would set the scene for increased and stronger cooperation.

The international conference of Iran and BSEC, dubbed Iran & 30-year old BSEC: Prospects for Cooperation, is scheduled to be held in Tehran on Monday. BSEC Secretary General Comănescu, member states’ ambassadors, United Nations representatives, Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Khusrav Noziri, and top managers of the country’s public and private sectors will participate in the event.

The Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies provided the venue for the conference.

Last November, General Manager of Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization Javad Hedayati said that the development of regional transit cooperation and the establishment of new corridors is a priority of the government, adding that such corridors would facilitate trade, lead to revenue generation for the country, and reduce transportation costs.

The top official added that linking the Persian Gulf in the south to the Caspian Sea in the north is the key plank of connectivity programs sought by Iran, and “the creation of a corridor from the Persian Gulf to Georgia and the Black Sea is one of these plans.”